Her Birthday
by greenberrytea
Summary: ON HIATUS It's Tohru's Birthday and Yuki, Kyou, Hana, and Uo have teamed up to throw the girl a surprise birthday bash! Will Yuki actually manage to bake a :gasp: UNburnt cake? Will Kyou manage to keep the secret? And will Shigure suffocate from laughter?
1. Day 11: The Walk Home: Part I

**Disclaimer: no tengo....tu no sue....yes that is the best my limited Level 2 Spanish can do.....(i don't own...you can't sue)**

**Author's Note:**

**Hi! This is my first fanfic andi have no idea where im going with it. lol....ok...yes...anyway...i want all of you who read this to REVIEW! b/c that is the only wayi am going to improve and provide you all with crap worth reading (that's an oxymoron isn't it?). ok....so please read and then tell me every single fault you can find with it....EVERY SINGLE ONE....oki admit it....im a perfectionist....but anyway....enough about me...read on! **

**Oh! but wait...a warning....i change POV's a LOT so...live with it...;)**

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Her Birthday

Chapter 1 

"Honda-san?"

"Yes, Yuki-kun?"

"When is your birthday?"

The two were walking home from Tohru's work place. It was raining again, as it had been for the past week or more. But Yuki didn't mind, because when it rained…. Tohru smiled. _"April Showers, May Flowers." _That's what she'd said when Yuki had commented earlier on the amount of rain they'd been getting. He'd laughed then, because it was still March.

A while ago, they had passed a group of girls laughing and enjoying themselves. One of

them had had a paper crown on her head, pronouncing her 'BIRTHDAY GIRL'. When Yuki saw the girl, he had imagined Tohru in her place, just as he did with all the girls he saw. But then Yuki realized that, although he could imagine Tohru with the crown, he couldn't imagine her surroundings. Was it winter or spring? Were the trees green or multi-colored? A scary thought hit him: he didn't know _when _her birthday was…

She had never mentioned it and it had already been a year since she had come to live with them. Come to think of it…Uotani-san and Hanajima-san had never mentioned Tohru's birthday either. He had planned to keep quiet, planned on asking Tohru's friends at school tomorrow first, lest he should offend her in some way. But before he could stop himself, the words had tumbled out. And now he couldn't take them back. Or maybe he didn't want to.

Yuki waited for an answer.

"Oh! Um…well…uh…!" Tohru didn't know what to do. Should she tell Yuki the truth and risk him shunning her just as the others had? Would he shun her? She didn't think she could smile again if he did. But…she owed him the truth. After all, he and Shigure had taken her in at a moment's notice and…she couldn't lie to them after that!

Finally she answered, in such a soft voice that Yuki had to lean close to hear and missed the first couple of words. "…on April 4th."

Yuki suddenly understood her reluctance to answer the question now. _She's afraid. I understand but what could have happened to make her this afraid…that she wouldn't tell any of us…even me?_

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**The pronunciation for the number '4' and the word 'death' is the same in Japanese. I think you get the connection. If you don't…Tohru was born on a date that is considered the unluckiest of the unlucky. I even read somewhere (not sure if this true though) that Japanese hospitals don't have a fourth floor. So yes…anyway…I made this her birthday date because…well...you'll see why later on! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	2. DAy 11: The Walk Home: Part II

**All right! I'm back people with a whole new chapter!! i know, i know, i promised it was going to be longer and it IS, just not as long as i wanted to be. argh...you have no idea how stuck i was...i was writing like one sentence at a time....never thought i'd get writer's block this soon...anyway here it is....**

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Chapter 2

Tohru had turned away. Yuki grabbed her hand and turned her around again. When she wouldn't meet his eyes, he lifted her chin with a finger and felt something melt inside as he looked into her eyes.

"How…why didn't you tell me before?" Yuki asked.

"I was afraid. Afraid that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore, that you would think I was unlucky. But… I guess, I should have told you when you first took me in. Please don't be mad! I…I…I just didn't want to lose you all! You're so important to me!" Tohru buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

Yuki grabbed her hands and held them. She looked up at him, startled. "Honda-san, you should know better. I would never shun you. I… we all love you and will never give you up willingly. You're important to us too." Tohru's eyes teared up again. Yuki raised his hands, and gently, touching her face, he wiped away her tears.

Not thinking of the consequences, of anything really except comfort, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Yuki gasped, and then, smiling, hugged her. They managed to stay as such for a second more before pink smoke engulfed them both.

Tohru collapsed onto the ground. She hunted around in Yuki's clothes, finally discovering him in the right arm of his shirt. She held him close to her face, and asked if he was all right. He said he was, and asked her if _she _was all right.

"I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm fine now. Really." Tohru said in a cheerful tone. Yuki knew it was fake.

_No, you're not fine. I can tell, there's something else you're not telling me. But…I have hurt you enough today already with my prying. When you are ready, I will still be here and we can talk._

"Okay, Honda-san." Yuki hesitated before speaking again. "Honda-san should know though, that…" Yuki halted again. Tohru silently urged him on with a tilt of her head. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you." Tohru smiled, genuinely happy, and, Yuki realizing that it was real, her smile was real, smiled in response, a smile just as honest.

"Thank you, Yuki-kun. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, knowing that you are here for me."

The two continued to smile at each other, a pink tint coloring both of their cheeks. Unfortunately the tender moment was interrupted, with another explosion of pink smoke. Tohru quickly averted her eyes while Yuki changed. When he was finished, the two headed for home once again, each busy with thoughts of their own.

Yuki stayed awake almost the entire night thinking. Tohru's birthday was actually only a little more than a week away. And he wanted to do something special for her. To show her how grateful he was that she was alive, that she was in his life, that…she was with him.

Around two AM, he finally drifted off, thinking that he would talk to Uotani-san, and Hanajima-san the next day and see what they thought.

Yuki woke up extra grumpy the next day. So it wasn't exactly surprising that Yuki sent Kyo flying without a word when the cat demanded another fight. After breakfast, the trio headed for school.

"Hanajima-san, Uotani-san, could I please talk with you for a moment?" Yuki asked the two girls. It was after school and this was the first time he had managed to talk with them without Tohru; at the moment she was busy cleaning the room as it was her turn.

Yuki led them away from the doorway of class 2-D.

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**I think i'm going to change some things in the 1st chapter so you might want to go back and read it again. If there are any changes they'll be small. Anyway THANK YOU to the people who reviewed me! You have no idea how giddy i got when i read your reviews. Ask my brother seriously he was there...i was giggling uncontrollably...you all made me so happy...**Capheine... rinkurocks... Animefreakkagome... **I love you all so much! Please keep reviewing! And to all of you others who are reading this...I'm refusing to update unless I get 5 more reviews! Yup, that's my decision. So review!! You know you want to click the button...teehee...okay...i just want to giggle again...it was so much fun reading them i want more...i guess im addicted now...lol...well, review and i will update!!!!!!!YAY!**


	3. Day 10: An Idea

**Hi! I updated! I'm sorry if any of you had to wait but I really wanted 5 more reviews. They make me sooo happy!!! For any of you who read the previous document for this chapter, it is NO LONGER dedicated to my little brother because he did a shitty thing and I AM MAD!!! If you want to know what he did, click on the reviews button and you'll figure it out, I'm sure. I wanted to repost this anyway because of just a couple of small changes. I don't mind if I get flamers, they sometimes have constructive criticism but as a joke from one's own brother...I AM MAD! And I'm sorry if you feel like I took it out on you, I suppose I did and for that I apologize. READ AND ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!**

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Chapter 3

Yuki did not want to take any chances of Tohru hearing him question Hanajima-san and Uotani-san, so he led the two girls outside into the courtyard. There was a large tree there with a bench beneath it; it was out of the way so there was no chance that other students would stumble upon them. Yuki had quite a bit of time before Tohru was finished cleaning the classroom because she usually took a while, wanting to make it extra clean.

He decided to be direct, because this was a matter concerning Tohru and he didn't want to, as the American phrase goes, 'beat around the bush'. As soon as the girls sat down he asked them if they knew when Tohru's birthday was.

"Of course we know! What kind of friends do you think we are, huh???!!!" Uo said. "It's…uh...um… when is it again, Hana?" In the background, Yuki sweat-dropped.

"I do not know. Whenever I wished to ask, and was close to doing so, the electric waves would tell me that Tohru would become unhappy, so I never asked. I do not believe Tohru wants us to know."

"Hey! Yeah, you're right! In fact, come to think of it, whenever I asked Tohru, I remember, she'd change the subject. But she'd do it so easily, it didn't feel like she was avoiding the question at all." Uo exclaimed. "Wow, what kind of friends _are_ we? We don't even know the birthday of our best friend!"

Yuki spoke here, "It's on April 4th."

"What?! You know? Then why did you ask us?!" Uo shouted. "And how come you know anyway? Did she tell you? How come she didn't tell us then?!"

"April 4th?" Understanding showed on Hana's face.

Uo turned to her friend. "Huh? Hana? I don't get it. What's so special about that date?"

"It is an old superstition. The number four is unlucky, because it sounds like the word death. So people born on the fourth of the fourth month, are considered bad luck in the worst possible way." Hana said quietly.

"Ohhhh. But that's stupid! Tohru can't think we'd abandon her just because she's born on some "unlucky" day?"

Yuki said, "You're right, Uotani-san, it is stupid. But I think something happened to Honda-san to make her really afraid. So much so, that she lost all confidence in that day."

"What? That's crazy. I'm going to go straighten that girl out right now!" Uotani-san yelled.

She got up to leave but Yuki stopped her, "Wait."

She turned around, "Why should I? I can't let my friend think I wouldn't like her just because she was born on some superstitiously bad day!"

"I agree with you." Yuki suddenly grinned. "That's why I think we should give her a surprise birthday party." Both girls were stunned. "I think Tohru needs to be _shown_ how much we all love and appreciate her, not just told."

Uo was the first to speak. "That's an awesome idea!! She'll love it!"

"I agree. She will love it. It is a good idea, Yuki-kun." Hana said.

"Thank you, Hanajima-san. Honda-san will be done cleaning soon, so you should go back and meet her before she realizes you're gone. She has her part-time job tomorrow, so if you are free, I believe we should meet and discuss ideas and make plans."

"Yes!" Uo punched the air. "We'll meet at Yuki-kun's house tomorrow to discuss Operation-HBT!"

"HBT?" Yuki asked, puzzled. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOHRU!" Yuki sweat-dropped again.

"Okay, then, we'll meet" Yuki didn't get a chance to finish his sentence then because suddenly there was a crash and Kyou was there.

"Hey! What is this?! You can't make plans without me! I want to help too!" Kyou shouted. It seemed he had been hiding behind the bushes all this time and listening to their conversation.

"Baka neko! Where'd you come from, you cat?!"

"I saw you three walking off all suspicious like so I followed you. It's a good thing I did; I want to help too!"

Yuki was starting to get mad. He didn't want the _cat's_ help. This was supposed to be _his_ idea, _his_ present for Tohru. _Beside, stupid cat would probably blurt out the secret, he's got a big enough mouth._

It seemed Uo was thinking along the same lines, "No way! You'd give away our secret before we even started blowing balloons!"

"No, I wouldn't! I know how to keep a secret, Yankee! It's you who'd probably tell Tohru!"

The two continued to shout at each other until Hana finally said, "It would be better to include him. Kyou-kun already knows and if we keep him busy, he will not have time to tell Tohru."

Yuki finally agreed after much persuading, saying they could get Kyou to do the doggy work. Uo laughed at that, imagining a dog with orange hair. She was still laughing at the image, when she and Hana left to go pick up Tohru.

"Baka neko!" Yuki muttered. He picked up his bag off the ground and headed home, Kyou yelling all the time behind him, "What did you say? You wanna fight? C'mon, let's fight!"

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**Hi! I got my five more reviews so I'm happy! YAY!!! And to thank you all, I've decided to do shoutouts at the end of each chapter from now on. These are to the reviews I received for Ch. 2. so if you reviewed for Ch. 1. I'm sorry. Review for this one, and I'll thank you in Ch. 4. YAY!!! Hidden Message: REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

animefreakforever: **Thank you!!! and here you go!!!**

girlygirl: **Glad you liked it! Hope your cousin doesn't feel too bad about her birthday! ;-)**

Not A Monkey: **I love your name!!! and thank you but what does kawaii mean? Oh and "yayness" is a SUPER-COOL word and i'm stealing it!!! lol....**

Just call me Blue: **YAY!! You liked it, you really liked it! lol...here you go. Enjoy!**

Sahariah: **SUPER glad you liked it! I don't know if I'll make it a Yukiru pairing (i'm a Yuki supporter for any who care) or if one of those where it's equal like in the manga and anime yet. But if you thought it was a Yukiru, i guess i have to put more Kyou in! hey! i did in this one! hope you enjoyed his appearance! and thank you for the anonomyous tip. i checked the box b/c i didn't really know what it meant but i UNchecked it as soon as i read your review! So thank you b/c i've already gotten 2 anonomyous reviews! YAY!**

HanaTohruShipperMorgan: **It took a lot of thinking to come up with the birthday angle cause i wanted a good reason to explain why the author never mentioned it! I think you're right aboutTohru sobbing soi changed that! But i'm keeping the 'herhugging him for comfort' b/c i like it and i like Yuki!!! YAYfor YUKI!!! lol...thanks for theideafor beating writer's block.i didn't want to stop writing this chapter causei wanted to have the meeting in this one too but then i thought it would be tooo long (it had gotten to 2 1/2 pages) so i decided to keep that until next chapter! it was a good tip and not at all stupid b/c it WORKS! i know exactly where my story is going and how it going to get there.So thank you! and you're the first person to have me on their favorites list so here's another thank you: THANK YOU! that info just made me...tear...so happy! i hope you enjoy the update!**

**All right everyone! that's it! till next chapter! which will come at 5 more reviews! and im not counting my brothers so currently when i'm posting this, i have 10 reviews...anyway...SUPER happy you all like my story so far! Keep REVIEWING! and i think i will have 10 or less chapters ... currently! it might change! probably will! lol...thank you everybody for reading! i really love you for it!**

--RiceBallPlum


	4. Day 10Day 9: The Secret is Out

**All right...here's another chapter! And I'm soooo sorry I didn't update in almost two weeks. See the thing was, is that it was the end of the quarter this week PLUS midterms. So im sorry but i have a legitimate excuse. And to make up for it, I also made this chapter over 1,200 words. i did word count--hehe. Shoutouts at bottom to those who reviewed ch. 3. and i have two survey questions i want to ask you all! so make sure you answer them when you review! which you OF COURSE will. haha...here you go:

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**Chapter 4**

_The next day…_

"Hanajima-san, Uotani-san, we have a problem," Yuki said in a low voice during lunch break while Tohru was busy talking to Kyou. "My, uh, cousins visited our house last night and because of Kyou's rather large mouth, they wish to participate in the planning of Tohru's party as well." ("Operation-HBT!" Uo whispered fiercely) (Yuki sweat dropped).

"How did that happen?" Hana asked.

_Flashback:_

They had just finished dinner and were settling down to a game of Rich Man/Poor Man when there was a knock at the door. "Huh? I wonder who that could be." Yuki said as he got up to answer the door.

"HI! Hi, Yuki! Where's Tohru? Tohru! Where are you! Ah! Tohru! I know what you're thinking! You're thinking what is that cute Momiji-kun doing here! Am I right? Am I right? Well, I'll tell you. See, Hari had an appointment with Yuki-kun today only he never came (I wonder why) so Hari was going to come over and do it now but I told him I wanted to come too and here I am! But that's not all! See, we saw Haru on our way to the car (he was going to visit Kisa) and we told him we were going to visit you (well I did) and then he said he hadn't seen Yuki-kun in a while and that he wanted to come too, so guess what? Haru's here too! BUT that's not all! Haru had to tell Kisa that he couldn't visit her and she asked why and then _she_ wanted to come too! BUT that's not all either! Hiro wanted to come too since Kisa was going so _he's_ here too! So guess what Tohru? Guess what? We're all here! YAY! (Well, all except Kagura-nee-chan.)"

Tohru's eyes had become spirals a long time ago but only now did Momiji realize. "Tohru, are you okay?" he asked.

"Eh? Um, yes. Where is everyone?" Tohru finally asked when she got over the minor shock of having half the zodiac at her doorstep. Before Momiji could answer, the other four members came up beside him followed by Yuki, who was looking a bit bewildered himself. "Hi Tohru!" they all more or less yelled simultaneously.

Yuki sat down at the kotatsu and Hatori immediately followed. Sighing, Yuki unbuttoned his shirt for the quick checkup. It was strangely quiet in the room, until Hatori finished, as if everyone wanted to hear Yuki breathing.

"You seem to be breathing easier now. But still, have you been wheezing lately? Or any other problems?" Hatori asked.

"No, I've been perfectly fine."

"Well that may be the case, but come see me again in a month. I want to see if this condition lasts. It could be you may have finally gotten rid of your asthma."

Yuki's head snapped up. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. You have had a clean bill of health for a while now."

Tohru clasped her hands and smiled brightly. "Oh! What wonderful news, Yuki-kun! You don't have…cough…asthma anymore!"

Everyone turned to Tohru, who suddenly could not seem to stop coughing. Hatori went to her, and when her coughing subsided, told her to say, "Ahh" and open her mouth wide. Looking in, he realized she had a sore throat.

"Honda-kun has a sore throat," Tohru sneezed, "and a cold. She's not running a fever yet, so we caught it early." He said to everyone in the room who were all looking on anxiously. Turning back to Tohru, he said, "But you'll have to get plenty of bed rest and drink lots of liquids." Hatori directed this at Kyou and Yuki. "And not worry about anything." This he aimed at Shigure, with a glare attached.

"Haa-san, I'm…I'm…I can't believe you'd accuse me of such an act." (A/N: imagine a broken heart above Shigure's head while Shigure has one arm over his head and the other hand at his heart—just for fun! Haha! That's what I imagined.)

"Tohru! You should go to bed right now!" Kyou shouted, taking Hatori's advice to heart.

"Eh? But…but everyone is still here…"

"NO!" Everyone yelled at her, "Go to bed!"

"Eh?! Uh, okay."

After Tohru had gone upstairs, everyone got around the kotatsu, planning Tohru's Get Well Soon Plan. (A/N: there seems to be a lot of planning going on, huh?)

"Well, we have to make sure she stays warm," said Haru.

"And drinks lots of orange juice." Kisa added quietly.

"She'll have to stay in bed too. But all we have to do is tell her and she'll do anything, so that won't be a problem." Hiro smirked a little. (A/N: did this come across right? I'm basing it on the anime since the manga volume introducing Hiro isn't out yet. Let me know please!)

"We'll have to do the cleaning, cooking, and washing ourselves for a while too." Shigure thought.

"I think what's most important is that she not worry about anything. If there's trouble, make sure it doesn't get to Honda-kun. You know she'll make herself get a fever if she worries too much. Just like last time." Hatori said.

"Why are you all worrying?! I'll take care of Tohru!" Kyou yelled. In the background Momiji began to sing, "Kyou likes Tohru! Kyou likes Tohru!" But then he got smacked in the back of the head by Yuki.

"Well then make sure you don't tell her anything that'll cause her any distress." Hatori said to the cat.

"Don't you worry! I can keep anything secret!"

"No you can't." said Haru. "Remember the time you punched that hole in sensei's door? You couldn't keep your mouth shut for even five minutes!" Everyone started laughing. (A/N: Haru's referring to Kyou's adopted father who Kyou refers to as 'shishou'.)

"SHUT UP! I just didn't want to lie! And I can too keep a secret! I haven't told anyone of Tohru's surprise birthday party yet, now have I?" He looked smug, standing with his arms crossed at his chest, with a 'humph'. That is until he realized what he'd said. Then his arms fell to his side and he thought 'Damn. I really can't keep a secret! Oh shit! It was bad enough with the damn rat involved but now…' He looked around warily at the group of stunned zodiac members.

If Yuki cursed, he would have just now. He knew the baka neko couldn't be trusted. Great. Just great. (A/N: somewhere, Uo's going, "Operation-HBT!!!!"—ah. My own little amusement. Oh! Could someone tell me what Kyou's words are for Yuki in Japanese. I know Yuki says, "baka neko" stupid cat, but what does Kyou say? The English meaning is 'damn rat'. Please tell me if you know. I think one of the words is nezumi or negumi?)

_:End of Flashback_

"You mean SIX more people want to join Operation-HBT?!! Kuwaii! It'll be a real party now!" Uo exclaimed. (A/N: I found out the meaning of kuwaii! Heehee)

"Actually there are probably going to be even more coming to the party. Honda-san is a bit…popular with the Sohmas."

"That is alright. We will manage. Can we still meet at your house though?" Hana asked.

"Yes, of course! If you don't mind so many of my, uh, cousins showing up as well though." Yuki replied.

"Not at all. As long as these people are also ones that Tohru-chan likes, I have no problem with them. And I believe Uo-chan feels the same way." It was a statement, not a question, but Uo still nodded.

"All right then. We'll still meet after school today to discuss Operation-HBT." (Uo's Note: "Yay! He said it!")

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**All right, survey questions first, then shoutouts!**

**#1: Should I make this a Yukiru, or a neither? (I'm not going to do a Kyoru, so one or neither!)**

**A: Yukiru B: Neither C: There is no option C!--haha**

**#2: Would you guys rather have an extremely long update (im thinking 6-8 pages on Microsoft Word) every TWO weeks or just keep going with the 2-3 pages of a chapter every week?**

**A: Every TWO weeks but an extremely long chapter**

**B: As it is.**

**That's it for surveys for now. Here are the shoutouts:**

Just call me Blue: **I'm REALLY glad you think not updating in a week is bad...wait...ok....what I mean is, im glad b/c your reviewers will love you, YAY! but not glad all of a sudden b/c that means you're mad at me...I'M SORRY!! And i'm having everybody decide whether they want it to be a Yukiru or a Kyoru rather than leaving it up to my empty, fluff-filled mind.**

Animefreakkagome: **Here's the update. Answer the survey question and i'll let you know whether it's a Yukiru or Kyoru.**

SparklingOcean: **YAY!I liked Kyou's entrance too! haha. my friend begged for him so I put him in A LOT this chapter. hope you enjoyed that. **

Suriana Amaya: **I love Hatori too! In fact I adore him! I'd say he's my fav. member of the Mabudachi Trio except i REALLY can't decide. I love Shigure and Ayami too! haha! And I'm really glad you think it's funny! I wasn't sure I could actually write humor!**

**Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Answer the survey. Oh? you're wondering what i'm doing? well, i was TRYING to brainwash you into answering the survey and thus guiding me. let me know if it works, won't ya? 5 more reviews before the next update!**

**--**RiceBallPlum


	5. Day 9: The Meeting

**OH MY GOD! I am so SORRY! I didn't update in over 3 weeks. But I have good reasons! This month has been the BUSIEST ever. I usually update on the weekends cause I can NEVER find free time on the weekdays. Yeah, well, this month my weekends are soo friggin busy. First weekend, I had to prepare for our school's science fair. My friends and I worked ALL weekend. ( We won first place in the physics category-YAYNESS!) Next weekend, I had debate ALL-DAY Saturday and on Sunday I had to get 3 tons of homework done. This 3-day weekend...HOMEWORK. I was absent that week so I had to make-up a ton of stuff and then do all the NEW stuff too. AND. AND. I'm trying out for the tennis team. I had to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and PRACTICE. Because I'm not good.(won't know about that till Friday.)PLUS! PLUS! I am in a play which should be performing in April?so I have to get my lines down for that ANDI am techie for another play. I get home at 5 every day now from school. DO YOU KNOW how much that SUCKS? I had to MAKE time today. And you know the worst (or maybe it was a good thing, idk) part? This fanfic was on my mind the ENTIRE time. I had DREAMS about it. AND a bunch of GREAT ideas that won't disappear and I want to write them but I can't because I have to set up for those great ideas (all, well, mostly all, relating to this fic). FRUSTRATION-A-GALORE! right. way too many exclamation and capital words in here. so. on with the chapter. **

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Chapter 5 **

_After School:_

"Bye Tohru!" yelled Momiji.

"Bye Momiji! Bye everybody!" Tohru shouted back as she ran past the school's gates and towards her job.

The entire gang was together, standing near the school's gates. They were all waiting for Yuki who had had a sudden meeting come up with the school's council. It seemed they couldn't decide about which hotel to stay at for when the class would go on the Class Trip. Yuki had said it would take only a few minutes and that if everybody would kindly wait for him, they could all walk to Shigure's house together.

The group was talking animately about Operation-HBT as everyone had taken to calling it. Uo had insisted after all (pain promised to those who didn't). Momiji and Kyou were having a spirited "discussion" about which color streamer Tohru would like more (Momiji favored blue, Kyou-orange). Haru, Uo, and Hana were just looking on with strange expressions on their faces, a mixture of awe (at the amazing level of loudness the two's voices could rise to) and confusion, when suddenly Yuki showed up.

"Baka neko. Don't you ever know when to shut up? What if someone hears you and tells Honda-san? You never think, do you? Baka."

"Well, you think you know too much! Kuso nezumi! Argh…." Kyou shouted at Yuki. Murmering to himself about certain damn rats who thought they knew everything, he followed the group as they headed over to the middle school to pick up Kisa and Hiro: "Hey, wait for me!"

Eventually they managed to get to Shigure's house, all intact but with their patience level wearing thin. Kyou and Momiji had bickered all the way home about the streamer colors again. Kyou had only shut up when he saw Kagura talking to Shigure at home.

His face visibly paled and took on an expression of horror. Stifling a scream, he turned to run but his shirt was caught by someone. He shook with fear, not wanting to turn around and see the person who had grabbed him. He didn't have to.

"KYOU!" Kagura tugged at Kyou's shirt, pulling him into a hug, practically breaking all his ribs in half. Squeezing even harder for a second, and cutting off all air to his lungs, she finally let him go. Everyone else just looked on amused at the boy's distress.

The executors of Operation-HBT all sat around a table. Each had a cup of tea in front of them and there were snacks (riceballs of course) as well. Yuki, taking a sip of his tea, started the meeting.

"Well, as you all know, we are all here to plan a surprise birthday party for Honda-san. I think that today's meeting should be devoted to handing out assignments—deciding who will do what."

Hana spoke. "I agree with Yuki-kun. The better organized we are, the better the party will be."

"There are ten of us. We need one person to be in charge of keeping Honda-san busy on that day while others set up for the party. Another person should be in charge of the cake. I think two people will be needed for food, five for the decorating since that is a really big job, and one person to do the doggy work, such as running to the store to buy something or making snacks while people work, etc." Yuki said. "Any volunteers?"

"Oh! Oh! Me, Yuki-kun! Me! I wanna decorate! I've got some great decorating ideas already!" Momiji exclaimed excitedly.

Other people continued to volunteer until it was decided that Hana and Uo would be in charge of the food for the party. Haru, Kisa, Hiro, Momiji, and Kagura would all decorate Shigure's living room, where they would hold the party. And Shigure himself would keep Tohru busy on that day by taking her to Ayame's shop again.

The only jobs left were that of cake-maker and errand-runner. Yuki and Kyou glared at each other from across the table. Before Kyou could even open his mouth, Yuki volunteered for the position of cake-maker.

Again before Kyou could say anything, Shigure burst out laughing. "You!" He cried pointing to Yuki. "Bake a cake! Are you crazy!" Shigure was having trouble breathing now from all the laughing and pointing he was doing. Finally, finally, and mind you it took a while, he got himself under control. "Yuki. I don't think it is a very good idea that you be in charge of making the cake. Knowing your quote-unquote, amazing, cooking skills, you'll probably burn the house down before you even set foot in the kitchen!"

Yuki glared at the older man. "I'm not that hopeless. And it's either me or the baka neko!"

"I choose Kyou then. I can still remember that leek soup of his. Sigh. It smelled _so _good. But Tohru-chan needed it more than I did." Shigure replied to Yuki's ultimatum.

Kyou spoke here. Sneering, he said, "No, it's alright. Let the kuso nezumi do it. I don't care. I'll run to the stores." Kyou figured that if Yuki made a really bad cake, Tohru wouldn't like him anymore because he had ruined her birthday with his awful cake. Then _he'd_ have Tohru all to himself. Wait. What was he saying! Why did he want Tohru all to himself? Kyou shook his head silently. It must be the pressure of keeping this a secret from Tohru. He was going crazy already. (A/N: LOL. Don't you just LOVE him?)

Yuki blinked. Shigure blinked. Everyone in the room blinked once so they knew that what they had just seen wasn't a twisted and bizarre mirage or a dream of some sort. It wasn't.

Feeling everyone's eyes on him, staring at him with strange expressions, Kyou got angry. (A/N: Well, what else do you expect from him?) "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING AT ME FOR! Jeez! I only wanna do the running 'cause it'll keep me in shape! JEEZ!" _Hopefully they'll believe that. _Kyou crossed his fingers.

Life was back to normal. Now that Kyou had given a good reason for his strange outburst, everyone turned to Yuki. "Er...er…" Yuki stuttered, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Why was everyone looking at him? What were they waiting for? Suddenly it hit him.

"Okay, then!" Yuki yelled a bit, feeling nervous. He had just realized that he had no hope whatsoever of making a NICE and UNBURNT cake for Tohru. What was he going to do! "Well, now everyone knows what he or she is doing right? Okay. Shigure, you don't have to do anything till the day of the party, so you can relax. Not that I expect anything else from you. Honda-san will have work tomorrow as well, so those of you who need to meet and decide who is doing what, can do so here tomorrow. Kyou will be here to get you anything you need. Just tell him whatever you want and he'll do it or get it for you." Yuki smirked at Kyou, who glared back. "I will also be here so if you need anything from me, just let me know. All right, meeting dismissed."

Everyone yelled, "YAY!" and were about to head out when Uo stopped them. She wanted them to do something she'd seen in some American movie that had been on TV last night. Feeling foolish, everyone made a circle and each of them put a hand in the middle. Then, Uo leading, they shouted, "OPERATION-HBT!", swinging their hands up. Birds within a three-mile radius of the house shot out of their trees so fast, a passerby might have thought that it was raining colorful bullets.

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**I did the meeting! I did the meeting! Finally this fic is getting somewhere. Don't you love Uo? She's one of my fav characters of Furuba. If I do say so myself, the ending of this chap. was a stroke of genius. LOL. Please review. I know I've been a bad girl but I PROMISE I'll update regularly from now on! Pouts cutely-I got that expression from a fic I read. LOL. here are shout-outs to my WONDERFUL, AMAZING, Rewiers! YAY for you! LOL.**

Just call me Blue**: Thank you for not being mad about before. Hopefully, you'll be kind again and forgive me this one time too. Please?**

Dark knightress**: Even though you didn't review for Ch. 4, I wanted to answer your question. Kyou has a big mouth in this fic, because I figure that when people are angry, they don't really know what they are saying. They'll say anything that they're thinking about basically. That's all. And I hope you enjoyed Shigure in this chap.**

Chizz-muffinChik**: I never knew I had a sense of humor (that other people understood) untilstrangers told me that my story was funny! Thank you SO much. I was really HAPPY. And I hope I didn't disappoint with my short chapter and long waiting period.**

Suriana Amaya**:Thank you! You're the only person to vote C for #1. Can I ask you why?**

koliverkreft**: I love Yukiru's tooo! I guess it's kinda obvious that this is going to be a Yukiru. LOL. I can't hide my feelings. Glad you're enjoying it.**

Chaan**: THANK YOU! I love the Operation-HBT thing too! Hope you enjoyed it in this one. YAYNESS!**

eni**: THANKS for your permission eni. I reallyappreciate it! LOL.I'll see you in school tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this.**

SaHKi**: SUPER HAPPY you're enjoying this fic. I'll think about making Akito a nice guy but I really don't know how I'm going to work that angle yet. **

Kea Jaganshi**: I'm SORRY! Can you ever forgive me? In the dark corners of your heart that are reserved for me, could there be a shining star of hope? A burning light? LOL. sorry, know I'm crazy. Hope you enjoyed this and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) you won't have to keep on waiting forever.**

Animefreakkagome**: NO ONE voted A for #2. NO ONE. I thought that really complimenting. LOL. Keep on YAYING. crazy physco here**

Kazie-chan**: Here is your update. Hope you enjoyed it. **

**All right folks. That's it for today. Till next week. which is my BIRTHDAY! Yup, that's right. My birthday's on Feb. 28 and if any one of you tells me you know someone who was also born on my birthday, I will get sad. I wanna be SPECIAL! LOL. I know tooooo many people who were born on my b-day. TOO many. I've got TWINS and TRIPLETS and QUADRUPLETS and MORE all over the place! LOL. I WILL be updating, don't worry. Hope you enjoyed this. And the results for my survey are:**

**#1: All Yukiru's except for one C: Both. This fic will be a Yukiru with a Kagura/Kyou match.**

**#2: It was a mix of either and B's: As it is. It will stay as it is. Update every weekend. Minimum of 2 pages on Word.**

**THAT'S IT FOR TODAY! REVIEW! I WILL NOT UPDATE if I don't get FIVE reviews! Luv ya'll,**

**RiceBallPlum**


	6. Day 8: A Hurting Memory

**BIG IMPORTANT NOTE AT BOTTOM OF THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Hi everybody! I had to remove this chapter and re-upload it because I messed up with this big, huge important detail! But no worries, it is fixed now. YAY! Shout-outs at bottom. I'm sorry I didn't update on Wed. or the weekend. I just wanted to be back on schedule...you know updating on weekends...i'm sorry. (hangs head in shame) Forgive me? (pouts cutely). ok. moving on from my sadness. I really hope you like this chapter. It's EXTREMELY FLUFFY! FULL OF FLUFFINESS! FLUFF-A-GALORE! FLUFF!FLUFF!FLUFF!FLUFF! Lol. But it's good fluff. At least I hope so. Tell me what you thing. I wrote this cahp. in my head and then on the computer. it was fun. funnyfunnfunn. Lol. **

**BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: The day Tohru told Yuki of her birthday was Day 11. The next day, when he talked to Uo and Hana was Day 10. The jyunnishi (i hope i spelled that right) meeting was also on Day 10. The big, important meeting was on Day 9. this chap. is Day 8. meaning7 days left until Tohru's b-day. Day 11 was a Tues. Day10 was a Wed. Day9 was a Thurs. Today is a Fri. Day7 is Sat. Meaning the party will be on Sat. In their world. Lol. Tohru works Tues-Thurs (evening shift). Free Fri and Sat. Work Sun. (afternoon shift). It's important. Sodon't forget. Remember: DON'T FORGET!**

**Now here is the promised, FLUFFY, uber-cool chap.:**

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**Chapter 6**

The next day:

"Honda-san. We can walk home together today. I finished all of my council president duties early." Yuki said.

Tohru smiled. "That's wonderful Yuki-kun. Let's go. Oh, wait. Kyou's not here yet."

"Kyou's gone to his Shishou's today."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot," Tohru said quietly. But then she smiled a bright little smile, saying, "All right, then Yuki-kun. Let's go home."

The two began to head home, Tohru in a surprisingly quiet state of mind. (A/N: That's usually's Yuki's job isn't it? Lol. Don't worry. I'm not making fun of our BELOVED Yuki-kun. I just wanted to offer an opinion to the mysterious yet strangely (well, not all that strangely) attractive side of him….wow….this is a really long A/N. I'm done. Continue reading.)

"What's on your mind, Honda-san? You seem a bit preoccupied. Usually you have all of our schedules down pat. What's wrong, if you don't mind my asking?" Yuki asked Tohru all this quietly. He didn't want her to become angry for all the questioning he had been doing lately.

"I don't mind you asking, Yuki-kun. You can ask me anything and I won't be mad! I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die!" Tohru promised.

"I know Honda-san. Nice try evading the question. Now, what's bothering you?"

"You know me too well, Yuki-kun!" Yuki blushed. "Yes, there is something on my mind. It has been ever since you asked me about my birthday date."

Yuki looked at her with a slight tilt to his head, silently urging her to continue.

Tohru took a deep breath. "For my tenth birthday, my mom held a birthday party for me. She bought balloons, streamers, party hats, everything. She even made this huuuge cake for me," Tohru said extending her arms.

"She invited all of the girls in my class at school. I was really excited. I'd never had a birthday party before, we couldn't really afford it. But since I was turning "double-digits" my mom decided we should celebrate with a big bang," Tohru threw her arms into the air, yelling at the last part.

"I was really happy," she said quietly and stopped, staring at her feet. Yuki stopped too. (A/N: In case any of you are wondering, they're on a sidewalk.) He reached for her hand, wanting to offer her some sort of comfort.

Tohru squeezed his hand gratefully. "What happened, Honda-san?" Tohru looked up. She saw the curiosity in his eyes but knew that if she didn't want to continue, all she had to do was say so, and Yuki would not ask. For this reason and more, she decided to continue. If there was one person she could count on to keep her secrets, it was Yuki. He wouldn't want to tell someone for her safety or accidentally tell the whole world. (A/N: Like a certain _cat_ we all know and some love and some hate. Lol. Hope you enjoyed that eni-chan!)

Tohru took a deep breath. And then another one. Yuki waited. When she was finally ready, Tohru said, "My party was supposed to start at noon, but everyone had been told to get there a little early because there would be traffic, since it was a Saturday. Well, the clock struck 12 o'clock. No one had arrived. My mom and I figured that they had all been caught in traffic. At 1 o'clock, we thought there must have been some sort of accident nearby and that's why it was taking everyone so long to get here. Meanwhile, the candles were melting into the birthday cake. When it was 2, we realized then, that no one was coming." Tohru stopped and took another deep breath.

"But I didn't want to believe it. I opened our front door, thinking everybody would be there, just waiting for us to open the door. Maybe the doorbell didn't work or something. No one was there," Tohru whispered. "I yelled at my mom then. I shouted at her, saying that she must have written the wrong address. I started crying then. But I continued to yell at her. I remember. She was crying too. She came forward slowly and she kneeled and wrapped her arms around me even though I struggled. And she said…she said that it _was_ her fault. That she _must_ have written the wrong address. She was taking all the blame because she didn't want _me_ to feel bad. I'd realized it even then but I continued to cry. I wanted to believe her but I didn't want it to be her fault either. We stayed there, crying, for a long time."

Tears were falling from Tohru's eyes now and one landed on their clasped hands. Startled, Yuki squeezed her hand. "It's all right. If you don't want to keep going, you can stop. I don't need to know."

Tohru smiled despite her tears, and gently shook her head. "No, it's all right. I want to tell you. You're…" she hesitated, "you're the first person I'm telling this too…" Yuki was shocked. He didn't know what to say; but he didn't have to. Tohru continued, "And…I need to tell someone or else I'm always going to feel sad around my birthday. I don't want to feel sad on the day I was born. I don't want to," she said, shaking her head firmly.

"You shouldn't have to." Yuki said quietly. Reaching up, he used his thumb to dry her tears. Under his breath, he whispered, "And you won't have to soon enough."

Tohru was touched at Yuki's kindness. He really was like no one else she had ever met. He has been hurt so bad, by Akiko and his family, yet he still…somehow…manages to have a heart of gold, one which would cry when another's did. He was so sweet.

Tohru smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Taking another deep breath, "When I was done crying, my mother had me blow out the birthday candles. We both didn't want to be inside, so she took me to the park. Only…only when we got there, we saw that most of the girls from my class were there. They were all having some sort of picnic together. I would have started crying right then if my mom hadn't taken my hand. I felt braver because of her and foolishly, I decided to confront those girls. I walked over to them, leading my mom. She didn't ask any questions, she just followed me. When we got to them, one of the girls saw me and stood up. She asked me, 'what I was doing, interrupting her party?'. And I asked her about mine. No, I yelled at her. I yelled at her, shouting 'why didn't you come to my birthday?'. She just laughed. And all the girls there laughed too. And then…then she said that she didn't come because I was unlucky. She said that if they had come to my birthday, they would have become unlucky too. I started crying, not caring that they saw. But then she said…she said that I was ugly and stupid. And that she didn't want to be friends with me. And…and…" Tohru took a breath, trying not to start crying again, "All the girls around her, they all agreed. Not one, not one of them stood up for me! Not a single one!"

Tohru shuddered, trying to keep her emotions inside but they were too much. They were overwhelming her and she began to cry, uncontrollably. Tohru tried to stop herself but couldn't. She hated crying; it felt awful!

Unsure of what to do to make her feel better, Yuki only squeezed her hand again. He wanted to hug her, comfort her in a way so that she could actually _feel_ comfort. But he couldn't. Because of that stupid curse. _'Aarrrgghhh'_, Yuki thought, frustrated at his inability to provide consolation for the one person in his life whom he actually cared about.

Letting go of her hands, he used his thumbs to wipe her tears away. He whispered, "I'm sorry. I really didn't want to cause you so much pain. I never meant to when I asked. Please, forgive me."

Tohru couldn't help but smile a little. It was so like her Yuki, to think her pain was his fault. It was one of his most endearing qualities.

Tohru shook her head again. "No. No, it wasn't your fault. And I don't want you to think it is. Please. Don't." Yuki smiled and replied, "All right."

"And besides," Tohru laughed a little, "there's one good memory at the end of this horrible one. When we got back to the house, my mom cheered me up. She cut the cake and stuffed this huge piece in my mouth. It made me laugh so hard, I almost choked. And then, I cut a piece for her and stuffed it into her face. It was so funny! She looked absolutely ridiculous! We were both laughing so hard now but somehow, my mom managed to take a picture of the both of us. When we saw it later, we both looked so absurd! It was crazy! But so funny! We got it blown up so we could frame it. I loved that picture. It was so nice...and the only one there was of the two of us together." Tohru stopped talking, her face taking on a nostalgic expression.

"What happened to it?" Yuki asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hmmm? Oh. I took it with me to Grandpa's. But I left it there when the reconstruction began. I couldn't take it with me because I didn't have room for it in my tent. I figured Grandpa would take it to his relatives so it wouldn't get in the way of the construction workers. But when I moved back, for that little while, it wasn't there. Grandpa is a bit forgetful so he must have left it behind. I guess the construction workers must have destroyed it accidentally."

"You're too kind sometimes, Honda-san. You won't even blame your Grandpa for losing a memory that was very important to you." Yuki shook his head, laughing a bit at his Tohru and what made her Tohru.

"It's not his fault. He's forgetful." Yuki laughed, hard. He didn't know why, but it was funny. Maybe it was the way she had said it: hesitatingly but with determination at the same time. He didn't know. It was just funny.

His laughter was contagious and Tohru began to laugh too. They were holding their sides in pain when they finally stopped.

"Let's go home! For real this time!" That just cracked them up again. Laughing, the two headed home, "for real."

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**Hi! Here are the shout-outs to my beloved reviewers! To those who reviewed chap. 5:**

Sarah Weeks: **You thought it was great! YAY! YAY! A thousand YAY's! You can tell me when your birthday is. I don't think I ever told you not to tell me your birthday...if i did...i didn't mean it...sorry for the confusion. But YAYNESS! Here is the update. hope you enjoyed it!**

lunar goddess: **YAY! I totally agree Yuki and Tohru are brilliant together. Tell me what you think of this chap. thoroughly. I want to know what you thought of the FLUFFYNESS! YAY! FLUFF! Lol.**

o.oxanimefreak.xo.o: **I can't wait either! I have the chaps. before it planned but not the party planned. I even have the after-chapter planned. it's crazy. i just can't getan ideaparty down. hopefully i will before the actual point where i have to write it! Lol.**

Animefreakkagome: **i don't know what you said...don't kill me...a Momiji and Kagura attitude...both are intense in whatever they do so that is a serious threat right there...LOL! Hope you like this chap.!**

MaNgA-bOy-LoVeR: **YES! YOU GOT IT JUST RIGHT! RIGHT ON THE BULLSEYE! YAY! YAY! Enjoy this one. Lol.**

mochii: **Awww...you're so sweet. I lub you! YAY! (crazy me...)...anyway...i like that it's a Yukiru too. I like Yukirus. No. I love Yukirus. YAY! Enjoy.**

eni-chan: **hey! I'm shouting out to you in this re-done chapter. THANKS SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME! I lub you sooooooooo much! REALLY appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed above randomshout-out! See you tomorrow!**

**Hope you enjoy this one a looooooooooooooooooot! B/c I LOVED writing it! It was sooooooo much fun! YAYNESS! Ja ne. Enjoy.**

**RiceBallPlum**


	7. Day 8: A Hint at Gifts to Come

**Hiii! Look, I updated on time. Alright, it's at the end of the weekend. But it's still the weekend! So there. Lol. This chap. was amazing. Not cuz it's any good. It isn't. I planned it on the way to the library and back. Not much time for planning actually. In fact, I didn't plan a lot. Only a couple of things happen in this chap. The amazing thing about it, however,was that it was 4 pages. I don't know how that happened. No clue. But it is an IMPORTANT chap. so read it. Shout-outs at bottom.Enjoy.**

**YOO-HOO! LOOK HERE: Chapter 7 is dedicated to** Indigo Siren **who sent the most feel-good review ever! Thank you so much! You really made my day!**

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**Chapter 7**

When Yuki and Tohru walked in, they came upon a very, _very, **very **_strange sight.

Shigure was…_actually_…could it be?…maybe it was all a dream…but no…it seemed real enough…it must be true…he must _actually_ be **_working._ **

What a mind-shattering thought.

He didn't just _look_ like he was working either. He was, in all honesty, _working hard_ at his newest novel.

It was crazy. No, it was insane. Never, never in his wildest dreams did Yuki imagine that Shigure actually worked. Well, he knew the guy did write all those popular novels, after all the bills got paid, didn't they? But to _see_ it with his own eyes was a whole other story. It was mind-numbing, at the least.

Tohru, though, was pleasantly surprised.

(A/N: Now that we have spent a few minutes on the amazing-ness of Shigure working, let's move on shall we? No offense to those who love Shigure! I ADORE him! In fact I adore every one of the Mabudachi Trio…Ayame…Hatori…Shigure. It's REALLY hard for me to decide which one I like best! In fact, I haven't decided yet. I've been putting it off like other people put off their dirty laundry. You just don't wanna do it until you absolutely **have**to. Lol. I love Ayame's funnness, (btw, I think they got his voice completely wrong in the anime! It's too deep for this character!) but his seriousness too. His regret concerning Yuki is interesting. It makes his character complicated. I like that. Hatori's pain (from Kana) does the same for him. Shigure's the only one we don't know that well, actually. It's weird. But it's only brought about a veil of mystery around him, that's lifted for a breif moment when we see Shigure with Hatori, smoking (I don't enjoy that last part. The smoking part. Not the other part). AAHHH! I just reread this and I realize I sound morbid by thinking pain was interesting. I'm not. I just think that pain complicates a character. It's what makes a character interesting. If a character goes around all preppy all the time with no pain, hurt, sadness to speak off…well, he or she is pretty boring, right? That's all…wow…this is sooooo long. I have got to keep a better reign on myself…Lol. End.)

It was another few minutes before Shigure looked up. Yuki and Tohru hadn't moved since the moment they'd walked in.

"Awww…look at the sweet couple. Holding hands and everything…it's sooooo cuutte. Although I am a bit put out that I wasn't Tohru-chan's first. Ah well. Que sera sera," Shigure said, shrugging his shoulders. (A/N: I hope I phrased that last part right. I want it to sound like it does in the anime…)

Tohru and Yuki realized they were still holding hands from when Yuki had grabbed on to it to stop Tohru from slipping in a puddle of water in the woods. He must have forgotten to let go. (A/N: Woops… ;P )

The pair pulled apart suddenly and at the same time. Both of their faces were red as tomatoes and Shigure was finding it a really difficult task to hold his laughter in. In fact, why was he holding it in?

Yuki and Tohru's faces went even reder, if possible, when they heard Shigure's crazy laughter.

Both ran away from the scene of over-whelming embarrassment; Yuki with a mumbeled excuse of having to go to his room to go study and Tohru to the kitchens to cook dinner.

It was another few minutes, actually quite a few minutes, before Shigure stopped laughing. He couldn't help it. It was so funny. They were so _awkward_ around each other; it was hilarious!

When he did stop, the only sounds that could be heard in the house, came from the kitchens where Tohru was hurridely banging a few pots and pans together. There was no sound from Yuki's room or Shigure's study.

Later that afternoon, Yuki came down into the kitchens, searching for Tohru. He found her outside, taking the laundry down from the clothesline.

"Honda-san," Yuki said.

"Eep!" Tohru said, surprised. She turned around. "Oh Yuki-kun. It's you. You scared me," she said.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to tell you that I was going to my secret base for a while. I want to work a bit today. Would you like to come?"

"Oh, I'd love to Yuki-kun. But I can't. I still have to make the rest of dinner and clean up a bit. I'm sorry. I would have loved to!" Tohru said.

"It's all right. Don't worry about it. Just make sure to make a lot of dinner today. I'm going to be hungry when I get home!" Yuki stated, smiling.

"You got it!" Tohru said, giving him a thumbs-up. She waved goodbye, as he walked off. She'd really wanted to go with him. It felt like she couldn't spend enough time with him sometimes. Ah, well. Back to work.

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Kyou came home before Yuki did, an hour before dinner. He came in quietly, wanting to sneak in without being seen. He had to get to his room before anyone saw him. 

"Kyou-kun? What are you doing?" Tohru asked, coming out of the kitchen. She had been about to go upstairs, to do a bit of her homework before dinner, when she saw Kyou tip-toe across the living room (A/N: I don't know what else to call it…sorry.), carrying some package in his hands. She couldn't see what it was from this angle, but it was square.

"What are you carrying?"

'_Too late,' _thought Kyou.

"Oh this?" Kyou said, present it. It was a medium-sized package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with some string. But it was thick. "Oh, um…this is…um…it's got some leeks in it. Yeah…uh…leeks." _'Oh, great job, idiot,'_ Kyou thought to himself. "Um…I have them because…" Suddenly a light bulb came on. Standing up straight, Kyou looked Tohru in the eye and said, "I stole them from Yuki's garden so that he couldn't give them to you and you couldn't cook them. I hate leeks! And I wrapped them in this paper so that nobody would notice. But I guess it didn't work too well, huh?"

"Oh no! Not at all! I had no idea what was in the package until you told me! No idea at all!" With that, she turned around and headed back into the kitchens, basically saying, _"Oh, go about your merry way. Don't worry about me. I'll just pretend I never saw you." _

Kyou sighed. "Phew!" He hadn't expected that. But he was proud of himself, he hadn't blabbed to Tohru. About her birthday party or her present currently under his arm. He smiled looking down it. He hadn't actually gone to his Shishou that day. He'd gone shopping for Tohru's birthday present. He'd spent all afternoon looking for the perfect thing and he'd finally found it in an out-of-the-way shop. Now all he had to do was make sure Tohru never came across it while she cleaned.

Once in his room, Kyou closed the door behind him. Looking around, he finally decided to store the present in his underpants drawer. He figured that was the one place Tohru would never look. (A/N: he's right. Our Innocent Tohru would never do such a thing. The same can't be said however for a certain friend of this authoress…eni-chan! Tsk, tsk, tsk. So sad really…shakes head… "She used to be such a _nice_ girl," said a grandmother somewhere. Lol)

_Some time later…_

Tohru was in the kitchen, making final preparations for today's dinner. She was washing her hands for the last time, when suddenly she heard someone behind her.

"Honda-san. Are you done yet?" Yuki asked.

"Eep!" Tohru turned around. "Yuki-kun, you're making this into a habit. You've got to stop creeping up on me like this!" Tohru laughed and Yuki smiled.

"I'm sorry. Would you like any help carrying dinner into the dining room?"

"I would love some. And when did you come home? I didn't hear you."

"Oh, just a little while ago. I'd gotten dirty working in the garden so I wanted to take a shower."

"Oh, okay."

The two headed into the dining room, carrying the meal between them.

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**Yeah, I know that isn't the best ending. I'm sorry. I didn't want to include the dinner cuz it's not important so I had to end it here. Oh, well. There are quite a few hints in this chapter concerning the presents from a few certain people to a certain****someone else. Trust me. **

**HELP WANTED: Here's the thing. I know what Yuki, Kyou, Shigure, and Ayame are getting Tohru. I still need to figure out what Hatori, Haru, Momiji, Hana, Uo, Kagura, Kisa, Hiro and possibly Akito are getting Tohru. If you guys can offer suggestions in your reviews, I'd really appreciate it. Please do so! I need help! Thank you! **

**Shout-outs:**

Indigo Siren: **Wow. You have absolutely no idea how much your review meant to me. I mean, seriously. It's crazy. I keep re-reading it and every time, EVERY time, I feel soooo giddy. Whenever, I'mmomentarily depressed from now on, that's what I'm turning to. I swear. Lol. Anyway. I REALLY hope you keep on reading this story. REALLY do. PLEASE do. Lol. Hope you enjoyed this chappie.**

DetroitRockCity: **Wow. blushesThank you for your review. I really loved it. It made me really happy knowing I was on AuthorAlert for you. Thank you for that and I hope you weren't disappointed with this chappie.**

Not A Monkey: **Thank you! Keep reading!**

Suriana Amaya: **Did I ever say he hugged her? No. I didn't. I have no idea what you're talking of. None whatsoever. (whispers secretly): just between us though...i fixed it. Lol. don't tell anyone.: I hope you keep reading.**

SerenaClearwater: **Your review made me laugh so much! I loved it! And I love Goldfish too! YAY! Lol. I had to get one YaY in there somewhere. Lol. I hope you remembered to read this story... I didn't quite get your review though. What did you mean, you needed to include an "H"? (confused)**

mochii: **Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this one!**

Animefreakkagome: **I don't know if you should go around saying that kind of stuff. It might give me a big head. And we wouldn't want me stepping on all you little people, now would we? It would hurt. Trust me, I wear heels that are considered weapons in some country out there, I'm sure. LOL. Just kidding. Loved your review! Thank you so much for putting up with me! I think you're my most consistent review at the moment!**

Eni-chan: **Hi! I hope you enjoyed the shout-out in the chappie! Lol. Don't worry. At the rate of reviews I'm getting, (52 at 6 chappies! YES! (punches arm into the air)) I doubt I'd live a long and fulfilliing life if I stopped writing. Lol. THANK YOU! You are the only one who mentioned the fluffiness of that chappie! For that, I thank ye. **

**All right, that's it! YAYNESS! Review soon people. 5 before I even think about updating! Lol. YaY! ok. Ja ne!**

**RiceBallPlum**

_Enjoy.  
Life. Liberty. Property. Whatever._

_Otherwise you lose._


	8. Day 7: An Afternoon of Fun

Um. Right. So I have no excuse this time for taking so long. All I can say is, **I'm incredibly sorry! **I'm just soo lazy. But you can probably expect the next update soon since I left off at a cliffy, even for me. I'mplotting this as I go along so I really don't know what's going to happen except for maybe a few vague plotlines. **Again, I'M SORRY!**

I don't know if I can update every week. But you can definitely expect an update once a month. **ABSOLUTELY!** This fic is getting finished. In fact, this month, you'll probably get two updates since this is so early into the month. **YAY!** We get to find out what happens!

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**

**Chapter 8**

"Shigure-san?" Tohru asked. She was standing in the doorway of his study. He was…_working_ again. Two days in a row. (A/N:_Shudder_:)

Shigure looked up from his computer screen. "Hai, Tohru-chan?"

"Uo and Hana invited me to go to see a movie with them today. I've cleaned the house already. And did the laundry. I made lunch too since I probably won't be back in time for it. So is it all right if I go?"

"Of course! You don't have to ask for my permission, Tohru." Shigure exclaimed.

"Thanks Shigure!"

She turned around and was about to leave, when Shigure asked, "Tohru, where are Yuki and Kyou? I haven't heard anything from either of them all morning. Not since breakfast, anyway."

"Oh, well, Yuki went to his secret base right after breakfast and I think Kyou is training somewhere in the woods."

"Not fighting some bears, I hope." Shigure said dryly. "Well, have a good time.

"Thanks! I will!" With that, Tohru turned to leave.

Tohru put on her shoes and started walking. It was going to take a while to get to the theatre.

The invitation had come as a surprise. While Tohru was waiting for the laundry to dry, the phone had rung. It was Uo; she had the day off from her job and Hana was free too. So the two of them had decided to go see a movie and wanted to know if Tohru could come too. She had told them she'd ask Shigure and that if she could, she'd meet them in front of the movie theatre at 12:00. And if she didn't show up, it meant she couldn't come. Uo had agreed (unwillingly though, she wanted Tohru to be a little more in charge) and they had said bye.

Tohru was excited to be spending the day with her friends; she felt like she hadn't seen them in forever.

When Tohru finally got to the theatre, it was a little after 12. She found Uo and Hana standing in front of the entrance. Hana was wearing her usual black and Uo had on her Yankee coat. Everyone around them was giving them their space, unsure of what to make of the two girls.

Tohru smiled. She yelled, "Uo! Hana!" as she ran up to them.

"Glad to see you could make it, Tohru. We weren't sure if you were going to come. We thought you might have ditched us in favor of Prince Yuki or Orange-Top." Uo teased.

"No, they both had other things to do today," Tohru said quite seriously. Uo and Hana laughed; their naïve friend hadn't gotten the joke.

"Come on, let's get our tickets. What movie do you want to see, Tohru?" Hana asked.

"Oh, whatever you guys want. I don't really care. As long as I'm with you guys." Tohru said, grabbing her two friends and pulling them into a hug. It felt nice to be able to hug someone and not worry about them changing into one of the 12 animals of the zodiac.

"No, really though. You pick a movie. We always watch what Uo or I want. You choose this time." Hana insisted.

"Yeah Tohru." Uo added unnecessarily.

"All right, all right. You guys are so nice to me. Um…I choose the new Anime movie. That looks good."

"All right then! We'll see the new Anime movie!" Uo yelled. Again, quite unnecessarily.

Tohru laughed. The three got their tickets and then sat through a 90 minute movie about magic and dragons and a hero and heroine who of course fell in love despite all the obstacles they faced. And together they defeated the evil guy who wanted to destroy the world.

As they were exiting the cinema, "That was sooooo cool! I loved it! The Hero and Heroine were so KAWAII together!" Tohru yelled.

"Yeah! But my favorite part was where the Heroine used her staff and hit the bad guy in the stomach with it! He completely doubled over and was WHEEZING! And then she used her magic to kill his pet bird. HE CRIED! It was so hilarious!" Uo eagerly said to Tohru and Hana.

"Yeah, well, my favorite part was the ending. When the Hero and Heroine kissed and then flew off into the sunset to live the rest of their lives together, delegating peace between the dragons and the humans. I almost cried at that part; it was SO SWEET!" Hana put in.

"Oh my god, you are sooo right. THAT was the best part!" yelled Uo and Tohru together.

The three sighed all at once. Then they looked at each other.

And burst out laughing.

"That was the worst movie I've seen in a long time!" Uo said, wiping a tear away.

"I know! It was so bad, it made my face turn green!" Hana said before continuing to laugh in a maniac manner.

"It was bad, wasn't it? It didn't make any sense at all. Although, the Hero and Heroine were kawaii," Tohru said. Hana, who had gotten control of herself, and Uo looked at her. "All right, it was bad all around. I'm sorry I chose such an awful movie."

"No, it's all right. It made us laugh our heads off, didn't it?" Hana said.

Tohru brightened. "Yeah, you're right."

"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Uo asked.

"I have an idea. Let's window-shop. See all the things we'd buy if we had the money." Hana had an idea.

"That sounds like fun!" Tohru said. "Let's get to it. Why don't we start with…" Tohru looked around. Finally spotting a clothing boutique, "There! They have the coolest clothes in the window!"

For the rest of the day, the girls window-shopped. Hana and Uo got plenty of ideas for Tohru's birthday gifts. As for Tohru, well she was pretty much clueless as to why her friends kept asking her 'if _she_ liked such and such'. But then she didn't really care anyway.

When Tohru finally got home, it was a little after 6. Taking off her shoes, she entered the living room. Yuki was there, doing his homework for the weekend.

"Hi, Yuki-kun! How was your day?" she asked him.

"Oh, it was okay. Kagura nee-chan came over, looking for the baka neko. She said she hadn't seen him in a while. He wasn't here so she and I talked for a while. It was nice." Yuki said.

"I'm glad." Tohru said, heading into the kitchen. She had to start dinner soon otherwise it'd be late. Yuki followed her into the kitchen.

"And how was your day with Uotani-san and Hanajima-san? Did you have a good time?"

"The BEST!" Tohru clapped her hands in excitement. "We saw the worst Anime movie but it was so much fun laughing about it. And then we window-shopped! I had such a fun time. And we got ice cream because none of us felt like eating lunch and we could carry them around. And then Hana got some ice cream on her nose because she took this big bite and it was sooo funny. Uo and I laughed so hard and she couldn't figure out what we were laughing at until she finally saw her reflection in the window. It was sooooooo hilarious!"

Yuki laughed, imagining Hanajima-san with ice cream on her nose. And then he smirked, realizing why she and Uotani-san decided to go window-shopping.

"I'm happy you had such a great time, Honda-san. You need to go out with Hanajima-san and Uotani-san more often, if it'll make you smile like this. I like seeing your smile; it's very pretty." Yuki said.

Tohru blushed. She didn't know what to say. Yuki's gaze on her was uncomfortable but for some reason, she was glad it was on her. Why did she feel this way? When had she started feeling this way?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the kitchen clock yelled, "Cookoo! Cookoo!"

Tohru jumped. "Oh! It's 6! I'd better get started on dinner." Tohru got out some pots and pans, a few vegetables, and a couple of knives. She poured some water into a big pan, and set it on the stove, on high. While it boiled, she started cutting carrots.

Yuki watched her carefully, memorizing where everything was. He'd have to know when the time came for him to bake the –gulp- Birthday Cake. Suddenly, Yuki had an idea.

"Honda-san. Would you like some help? I'm not busy at the moment, and it'll make it go faster."

"Um…sure, Yuki-kun! Um…why don't you start making the salad? There's some lettuce in the vegetable crisper along with the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and raddish. And the salad bowl is in that cabinet over there." Tohru was a little bit hesitant in letting Yuki help her. She'd heard Shigure describe Yuki's infamous attempts at cooking and was a little bit nervous. But she decided that he could make the salad. After all, it didn't require any baking or heating.

Tohru turned to Yuki. He hadn't moved since she'd told him where the vegetables were.

"Is something wrong, Yuki-kun?"

Yuki paused and then said, "Um…Honda-san? Where's the vegetable crisper?" (A/N: -sweat-drops-)

Tohru sweat-dropped. "It's in the refrigerator."

"Okay, thanks." Yuki said with a sigh of relief. Tohru got back to cutting up her carrots. Yuki got out the lettuce and the cucumber, tomatoes, etc. He carried it over to the counter, next to Tohru, so he could work alongside her. Then he got out the salad bowl. He also grabbed a knife.

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Sorry, I left it off at such an awful place. I just got tired of writing so I stopped. But don't worry! You'll get to know what happens soon! **I promise!**  
**-**conveniently forgets previous promises broken to update quickly**-**

**Shout-outs:**

**Angela Dawne:** Hi! Really, it's excellent? Aw, shucks, you make me blush! Update your stories soon too!

**Willowcrickett: **Someone as talented as me? Geez, I've never been this red before in almost all my entire life. THANKS SO MUCH. I'll check out your work soon as I post this! And thanks for telling me about the typo. I'm too lazy to go back and fix it but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll remember to spell-check from now on!

**Kea Jaganshi: **Thanks so much!

**miyahiii miya ha ha:** Thanks! And you're right, Tohru will probably go crazy saying, "Oh, that's not necessary! Really I can do it!" LOL. I can just imagine her.

**Joyce:** Thanks again! And don't worry,I don't plan to stop anytime soon!

**hatori obsessor:** OH MY GOD! I love you! You gave me such great ideas! Thanks so much! I will definitely give you credit when the time comes! THANKS AGAIN!

**Suriana Amaya:** "very original and well-written"; "truly a pleasure to read"those words made me soooo happy. I'M SO HAPPY! Thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it!

**SerenaClearwater:** Oooohhhh! It was a subliminal message. I get it now. (I think).-sweat-drops- Anyway...do you know about Author Alerts? You can make it so you get an email every time a story that you like gets updated. Or you can put the story under favorites. Er...ignore me if I'm being bull-headed and didn't completely understand your review again. I hope you remember to read this story...bye!

**Dark Inu fan:** THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA! Thanks so much! And keep reading! And reviewing!

**Animefreakkagome:** Still feel that way? LOL. Sorry. I promise to try and update faster. But I can't make any garuntees. Keep reading please! You're the longest continuing reviewer I have so far and that really makes me happy! I hope you liked this chapter.

**eni:** your review didn't show up! Oh well, you gave me an amazing one in class! I'm keeping it under general. I just don't think it's that funny. sorry...er...i think...see you in school!

Bye everyone! Till next time!

**-RiceBallPlum**

Enjoy.  
Life. Liberty. Property. _Whatever.  
_Otherwise you lose.


	9. Day 7: The Life of a Peeled Tomato

**AAAHHH!** I know! A whole month and two weeks without updates! **I'm sooooooooo INCREDIBLEY SORRY:(  
REASONS:  
**1) My computer **BROKE DOWN COMPLETELY** from two virus' simulataneously--the next chapter was saved on it and i couldn't retrieve it  
**2) WRITER's BLOCK--**i didn't feel like rewriting the chapter i'd worked so hard on so that set me back a lot  
**3) HUMONGOUS english project--**my friends and i worked **10 hours every weekend for a month **and still i had to stay up the night before to finish it**--it was AWFUL!  
4) TENNIS--**3 matches a week; home at 6-7; tired; homework--over now thank god!

That's it. but it's a lot. it was awful. april was such a stressful month; it was crazy. im sorry! I really am! You'll get one more update before school's over...only after school's over will I be able to start updating regularly. **STUPID SCHOOL!  
-**grumbles- **i have two finals every day of the week, the last week of school.** gotta start studying for those soon. **ARGH! STUPID SCHOOL!** ahem. right. er. i bet most of you didn't bother to read all the way through this. so for those of you who did. thank you for listening to my ranting. ah...reading. i appreciate it. very much so. right.  
**ON WITH THE CHAPTER:**

**oh...it's really short because i literally FORCED myself to write it. sorry about that. hehe..he...he? -smiles sheepishly-

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**Chapter 9 (Day 7) Saturday Night**

Yuki took a deep breath and started to peel the tomato. But every few seconds, the knife would slip and stab the tomato and make all the juice run out. Yuki's hand was very sticky in a matter of minutes.

It was at times like this that Yuki wished he was the type who cursed.

_Ten Minutes Later _

"AHA!" Yuki yelled.

Tohru turned around from her stew, slightly afraid of what she was going to find.

There stood Yuki with his arm punched into the air and a look of utmost triumph on his face.

"Did you finish the salad, Yuki-kun?" Tohru asked.

"No, Honda-san….but guess what!" Yuki pulled his fist down and started to open it. "I FINISHED PEELING THE TOMATO!" Sitting on top of Yuki's open palm now, was a peeled "tomato" that was smaller than it had originally been and very, very squishy-looking."

Tohru blinked once. Then twice. Then a third time. The amount of time it took to blink three times slowly was how long it took for Tohru's brain to comprehend what she was seeing.

Tohru sweat-dropped. (A/N: -sweatdrop-)

"Um…Yuki-kun…tomatoes…well, see…people don't usually peel tomatoes. They usually just cut them intobite-size pieces. Here, I'll show you."

Tohru grabbed the knife from Yuki's hand and another tomato. Swiftly, she cut it into four pieces and then eight.

Taking the pieces off the cutting board, she dumped them in the salad bowl with a small smile on her face. It was nice teaching Yuki-kun for once, instead of the other way around when he was helping her with her schoolwork. Not that she minded his help of course, it was just that she always felt a bit incompetent around Yuki at school. Here, in the kitchen, she felt more confident and liked that.

"See? That's how you cut a tomato."

"Oh. Honda-san. Could you please show me how to cut the other vegetables too? So I know how to do it, and won't disturb you? I really do want to help and I'm a fast learner." Yuki asked pleadingly. (A/N: Imagine a 10-year-old Yuki clasping his hands together in front of him with big, soulful eyes…that's what I did and he looks soooooooooo cute! Sigh. –Hearts float around-)

"Sure, Yuki-kun!" Turning back to the counter, Tohru showed Yuki how to slice the lettuce, peel and cut the radish, slice the cucumbers, and how to aristically cut the onions into circular pieces.

Yuki made sure to take good notes so he could do it all when Tohru finished showing him. And when he didn't understand something (A/N: which was all the time ;P) he asked her to show him again.

Unfortunately, when Tohru was done showing him, there weren't anymore vegetables to be peeled and sliced.

The two sweat-dropped when they saw that.

"Sorry, Honda-san. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted to help; instead, I just wasted time." Yuki said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Oh no, Yuki-kun!You didn't waste my time at all!Now that you know how to do it, you can just help me tomorrow! Right now though...um...if you don't mind...do you think you could set the table? The food will be finished soon." Tohru said, smiling happily.

Tohru's new-found confidence increased when Yuki said yes.

The rat set the table and they all sat down to eat dinner.

That night, before going to bed, Yuki sketched Tohru's birthday cake. He wanted it to be simple, like Tohru, and not overly decorated like most store-bought cakes.

Unfortunately, he just couldn't take the picture in his mind's eye and put it on paper. It would always come out wrong. He spent an hour more, working on his drawing, until it was as close to the one in his mind as it could be. Only then did he turn off the light and go to bed.

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**Hi! Shout-outs! **

**Angela Dawne--** Awww...do you really mean that?

**Serena Clearwater-- **It's cool that you have such high standards for your reading. I'm honored that you even read my work. Thanks for understanding about updates!

**mochii--** SUCH HIGH PRAISE! -blush- im red as a tomato aren't i? just like Yuki and Tohru. LOL. thanks so much. i love your reviews!

**o.oxanimefreakxo.o--** Yeah. that's why his cooking is so bad. it's cause he doesn't know what he's adding to the pot. mystery stew! LOL :D Thanks and hope you got a good grade on your project!

**Dark Inu Fan--** YES! the mission impossible song! LOL that made me laugh. thanks for the compliment!

**Joyce-- **I have to remember to return your email. im sorry. im swamped right now. thanks for liking the story so much:D

**Willowcrickett--** REALLY? You really think so? Sorry about the insecurities, ff. net is the first time i've ever showed my writing to anyone...the whole anonymity thing really helps. Your review made ME smile:D I had this huge grin on my face. What does LL&P stand for btw?

**Karen--** i didn't mean for that! i just meant he grabbed a knife to chop the vegetables! aahh...i hope no one else got confused...im glad you like it though!

**hatori obsesser--** thanks again! and i will, don't worry! i fully plan on finishing this fic!

**OkonomiyakeUcchan--**Uo's my favourite too! YAY! And a YUKIRU buddy! I LUB YOU! YAYNESS! more fluff coming up, promise!

**nightgodess--** ooooh...a new fan...have you seen the anime or read the manga? or both? both are good! read the manga though...it continues the story past the anime! THANKS so much for liking my work! I always thought my sense of humour was strange and that nobody would ever get it...thanks for proving me wrong! lub ya!

**Suriana Amaya-- **ah. where to start? your review just made me happy all over again! YAY! my brother is an amazing cook, im so jealous of him! and he's younger than me! my two best friends and i are like that...that's what i was basing their day together on...one of our own days! i can't believe my writing made you jealous! i swear...my face is forever going to be red...ill be known as The Girl Who Had A Tomato For A Face ;P LOL keep reading my story please! I love your feedback!

**

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**THAT's IT! **

**REVIEW PEOPLE! You know you wanna click that button and make me happy! YOU KNOW YOU DO! **

BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: this chapter was supposed to include Snday in it but i was too mentally-blocked to write it.im not starting another fic until this one is done andthat's frustrating me cuz i have this really cool idea for a one-shot for CCS. so. from nowon, each chapter is going to be a DAY. that means -does some calculations- **SIX chapters left**. hopefully. thanks for reading! REVIEW! 5 before i even think about updating!

**-RiceBallPlum**

Enjoy.  
Life. Liberty. Property. _Whatever.  
_Otherwise you lose.


	10. Day 6: Part 1: :Gulp: Baking?

**No excuses for such a late update. Just so you know, I have been working on it. 18 PAGES TOTAL! And now, Ch. 10 is done. I divided it up into three parts so it's not such a long read. Shout-outs at the end of Part 3. Oh, and today's Sunday and Tohru's working from 10 AM to 5 PM.**

**Chapter 10 (Day 6)**

Kyou woke up at 11:00 on Sunday. He lay there for a bit, trying to remember the wonderful dream he'd been having. It had been so good. He'd been practicing at the dojo, in a private room, when someone had slid open the door. He'd heard a girl's voice, asking him if he was ready to go. He had turned toward her with a smile. But before he had a chance to see who it was, he'd woken up.

Except.

Except he had the strangest feeling that he knew the girl's voice, had heard it before. But where?

Dismissing his thoughts with a wave of his hand, Kyou got up and went to the bathroom.

10 minutes later…

Kyou went into the kitchen. As he opened the refrigerator, looking for food, he happened to glance at the clock. It read 11:15.

"Oh, shit! I'm LATE! I have to get to Shishou's! Oh, he's going to kill me! I've never been this late before!"

Kyou continued to talk to himself as he ran upstairs, grabbing his stuff together. He was still muttering when he ran past Yuki's open door. He rushed down stairs, almost bumping into Yuki. Well, he would have bumped into Yuki if Yuki hadn't done a back kick only seconds before impact, hurtling Kyou toward the top of the stairs.

He landed with a crash and another curse. Kyou got up and ran downstairs into the kitchen again where he found Yuki staring at the refrigerator blankly.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR! NOW I'M GOING TO BE REALLY LATE!" Kyou yelled at Yuki's back.

He would have yelled more except Yuki suddenly kicked him, sending him through a wall and outside.

"That was for waking me up with your awful yelling." Yuki said, finally awake.

Kyou would have fought back and kicked the kuso nezumi where he deserved…except he remembered how late he was and how mad Shishou was going to be. So he got up, dusted himself off, and ran toward the front gate.

"KUSO NEZUMI! I'LL DEAL WITH YOU WHEN I GET HOME!" Kyou yelled toward Yuki over his shoulder.

Yuki scoffed at the cat's threat and then turned back towards the refrigerator. He saw a note there on Hello Kitty stationery. Immediately he realized it was from Tohru and quickly started reading it. (A/N: Sorry, I don't what's a typical Japanese breakfast/lunch so I just used typical American food. Sorry if this throws off the story for some!)

_Dear Yuki-kun, Kyou-kun, and Shigure-san, _(Yuki smiled, he could hear her voice perfectly in his head)

_I had to go to work early today. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. I did make breakfast and lunch for you; it's all in the refrigerator. I'll see you all when I come home, all right? Bye,_

_Tohru_

Yuki smiled at the note and then opened the refrigerator door. Inside he found three plates, each already filled with a perfect breakfast.

Yuki slid one out and looked at it. A stack of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries on top. He set his plate on the table and grabbed the jug of maple syrup that was there.

A glass of orange juice and cutlery was all that was needed to complete his meal.

After breakfast, just as Yuki was placing his plate in the sink, he heard someone calling out his name. Glancing at the clock, which read 12:00 PM, he thought, _'Right on time.'_

Yuki walked to the front door and let Kagura in.

"Hello, Yuki." Kagura said in a subdued sort-of voice.

Finding this peculiar, Yuki asked her if everything was all right.

He never got an answer for suddenly, Kagura erupted. "YUKI-KUN! We are going to have SO MUCH FUN today! I can't wait to start! Let's sit down and figure out what kind of cake to bake, shall we?"

Yuki had asked Kagura to teach him to bake a cake the last time she had been over as he knew that she could cook quite well as long as she kept her mind to the task at hand. Plus, he couldn't think of anyone else to ask who he wouldn't mind embarrassing himself in front of.

Kagura had quickly agreed, knowing the situation would give fruit to limitless opportunities to tease the rat in the future. And it didn't hurt that it also gave her a legitimate excuse to be at the Sohma house.

Ulterior motives revealed, Yuki followed Kagura into the living room. She had already seated herself at the low table and had pulled a book, a notebook, and a pencil out of her backpack.

"ALL RIGHT! Let's get started! Okay, now, what kind of cake do you think Tohru-chan would like more? Vanilla or chocolate?"

A bit overwhelmed already, Yuki mulled over the question. _'Vanilla or chocolate? Hmm…vanilla or chocolate?'_

"I think … it should be vanilla. Because it's like Honda-san, simple and pure. Chocolate is too…much, too complex in a way for Honda-san."

"Gosh, Yuki-kun. All I did was ask you to pick a flavor! Not over-analyze Tohru-chan and her preference of vanilla over chocolate!" Kagura laughed loudly, opening her mouth wide and almost falling over backwards.

Yuki was suddenly intimidated by her. He never had been before. Something was wrong; something had happened to Kagura. But it was obvious she wasn't going to share with him no matter how much he asked. She'll tell him in her own time, he figured.

He and Kagura had always had a special bond. He hated to admit it, but he knew it had started because of the cat. Not directly. But almost.

It had been before New Year's, when Yuki was six. He was standing by himself, staring out the window of the main Sohma house. Kagura had walked over, curious. Curious about why the rat hated the cat so much. Why Yuki hated Kyou. Even at such a young age, the animosity between Kyou and Yuki had been evident. And the attraction Kagura felt for Kyou as well.

He'd never given her an answer, not a real one. All he'd said was that was the way it was supposed to be. And then he had changed the subject, questioning her about the New Years Banquet. This was going to be the first year he was going, since his health had always been poor the years before.

She'd answered all of his questions and more. They'd had talked more and more as the Banquet drew closer. And then, the day of the Banquet itself, she'd sat by him at the table, telling him about all the other members, pointing them all out. Making the lonely feeling go away.

He loved his nee-chan and respected her. If she didn't want to tell him what was making her act so weird, well…he wasn't going to bother her with it.

"All right! So a vanilla cake it is!" Kagura said when she'd caught her breath. "Now, how do you want to decorate it?"

"Oh, I've already thought of that." Yuki pulled his drawing out of his pocket, showing her what he'd drawn. (A/N: You guys don't get to see this till Tohru does)

"Wow, Yuki! This is so pretty. I'm sure she'll love it. But it's going to take a lot of work. And lots of stuff. That means we have to go SHOPPING! YAY!" Kagura stood up, ready to go.

"Come on, Yuki-kun! Let's go already!"

"Wait, nee-chan. Wouldn't it be better if we make a shopping list first? So we know what to buy? That'll make the shopping a lot quicker," Yuki insisted.

Immediately, Kagura sat down. "You're right. Sorry," she said, smiling a sheepish smile.

Yuki smiled back, "It's okay. I'll go and get a few of Honda-san's cookbooks. I'm sure there's bound to be a good recipe for vanilla cake in there somewhere." He got up and went into the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Yuki still hadn't come back. Kagura wondered if everything was okay. Getting up, she walked to the kitchen. Inside she saw something that didn't exactly surprise her.

"Yuki-kun, why are you looking for a cookbook in the oven?" she asked Yuki's body as his head was currently in said-oven.

Yuki took his head out and looked at her like she was crazy. "Because, Kagura-chan, a cookbook is full of recipes of things you bake. And you bake them in ovens. So it makes perfectly logical sense to keep cookbooks in ovens. Everybody does that." His tone made her feel a little bit stupid until she remembered _he_ was the one whose head had been in the oven looking for a cookbook.

Slowly, she replied. "No, Yuki-kun. Cookbooks are made of paper. And if you accidentally start pre-heating the oven without taking out your cookbooks, they'll burn. That's why most people keep them in a cabinet or a drawer." (A/N: Heh, my family keeps all our baking pans/cookie sheets in our oven since our kitchen is kinda small and one time my brother's friend, who didn't know, started preheating the oven, without taking the stuff out. So when we smelled something burning, we all rushed to the kitchen and there he was, holding a pan and there was this white/clear stuff covering it. It took us a few seconds to realize that the white/clear stuff used to be the plastic lid of the pan. Heh, that was a fun day. My mom got super-mad at him and now refuses to let him in the kitchen except to use the microwave. Even then, she watches him like a hawk. It's so funny.)

Kagura pulled open the drawer next to the oven and took out the cookbooks there. Feeling embarrassed, Yuki got up and closed the oven door, following Kagura back into the living room.

"Found one!" They'd been looking through the cookbooks for a few minutes, Kagura instructing Yuki on how to read a cookbook and find a specific recipe.

"Really? Let's see it then," Kagura said.

Yuki showed the recipe to her. The picture of the cake looked absolutely delicious and completely edible. In the picture, the cake was decorated with white frosting with beautiful roses in the four corners. The recipe was fairly simple too, since it was a pound cake. Yuki got a small notebook and a pen and started writing the recipe down.

"Aren't there eggs in the fridge already, Yuki-kun?" Kagura asked when she saw him write down "2 eggs".

"Yes, there are. But I do not want to use those eggs because then Honda-san might wonder."

"Ohh, that's true. You're really smart, Yuki-kun!" Kagura said with a grin.

"Thanks Kagura-chan," Yuki said smiling, "Kagura-chan…this book says that this recipe is for a 10x10 pan. What does that mean? It sounds small."

"Oh, you're right! An 10x10 pan means that the pan we pour the mix into, to bake it in, will be that big. And you're right again! It is too small. We'll have to double the recipe if we want to feed everyone and I have a feeling there will be lots of people at this party. And besides, everyone loves leftovers! Can you do that, Yuki-kun while I go see what size pans Tohru-chan has?"

Yuki nodded and Kagura left the room. A few seconds later, Yuki looked up as Kagura entered the room.

"I'm done," he said.

"Oh good. Then we can get going. Tohru-chan has a 13x9 pan and a 9x9 and a few 10x10. The 13x9 will be a little small if we double the recipe. So I have an idea. Let's make two cakes. We'll still double the recipe but use two pans to make two cakes. The first cake, in the 13x9 pan, will be the ones you'll decorate. And for the second cake, in the 9x9, I have the perfect idea! We'll write 'Happy Birthday Tohru-chan" on it and surround it with everyone's names in different colors! It'll look great!" Kagura said with big, bright stars in her eyes, as she looked to the distant future where everyone complimented her on her ingenious ideas.

"All right. That sounds like a great idea. I've already doubled the recipe so we are ready to go to the market." Yuki replied.

A moment later, he and Kagura left for the supermarket.


	11. Day 6: Part 2: The Great Kitchen Fight

_About two hours later…_

Just as Yuki opened the door, the clock struck 2 o'clock. They had only three hours until he had to go pick up Tohru-chan from work.

"How many cakes can we bake in three hours?" Yuki asked as he led the way to the kitchen, struggling with all the bags he was carrying.

"Well, the practice cakes should be small and you should probably make as many practice cakes as possible before you have to make the FINAL (A/N: dun dun dunnn) ones. The thing with cakes is that as long as you follow the recipe to the dot, you'll get a pretty, tasty cake. However, you don't know how to do _any_ of the things a recipe asks you to do. So I guess that's what we'll mostly be working on. What it means when they ask you to break an egg, etc."

Yuki was following along just fine until the last comment.

"Kagura-chan, is that supposed to be some sort of vile joke?" he asked with a disgusted face. "Break an egg? Ugh."

Kagura started laughing. "That's exactly what I mean Yuki-kun! You don't know how to do _anything_ that a recipe asks you to do."

When she was finished with her fake, boisterous laugh, she got the cookbook with the recipe on it. "All right, it says here it takes an hour and five minutes for each cake to be fully baked and that's if we don't double the recipe. So I think we should make two separate cakes today in 10x10 pans and then we'll still have enough time for clean-up so Tohru-chan doesn't suspect a thing!"

"That sounds perfect, Kagura-chan."

"Ok, let's get the stuff we need first."

"But we already did," Yuki protested.

"Oh, those are the ingredients Yuki-kun. I'm talking about the bowls and measurement cups and spoons now."

"Oh."

"Ok, watch closely Yuki so you know where you can find everything from now on."

Yuki got out his notebook and pen.

"The bowls are in the cabinet to the immediate left of the oven. For this recipe, we need a large bowl. When you double it, you are going to need two large bowls. Got that?"

Yuki nodded and Kagura continued.

"The measurement cups and spoons are over here in the drawer to the left of the oven. The drawer next to the drawer with the cookbooks in it. We need one set of cups and one set of spoons."

"The electric mixer is in the same cabinet as the blender and other mechanical appliances. This cabinet is to the right of the oven. It's the only cabinet to the right of the oven," Kagura spoke extra slowly for Yuki's benefit. "Did you understand all that?"

"Yes. But could you explain the measurement utensils to me?"

"Of course, but I thought we could do that as we went along. Now that we have everything out, could you read to me the first step in the recipe please?" Kagura asked Yuki.

"It says to 'Preheat the oven to 350˚F and make sure the baking rack is in the middle'. I don't think this cookbook is very good Kagura-chan. It has a typo. How do you PREheat an oven? And what's a baking rack?"

"It's not a typo, Yuki. Ovens take a long time to heat up so you have to set it before you start anything else. That way the oven is at the perfect temperature when you are ready to put in the cake. There are three baking racks in an oven, sometimes two. This oven has three and our cake goes on the middle one when we put it in, ok?" Kagura explained.

Yuki nodded and Kagura continued.

"To preheat the oven, you first push this button here, BAKE, once. See these three dashes here? That means you can now set the temperature to what you want the oven to heat up to. We want 350˚F. So we use this button here, and press it. See how 300˚F showed up? We keep pressing this button until the screen reads 350˚F. See? Now once the 350˚F shows up, you just stop pushing buttons, and it'll automatically start preheating in a few seconds. Let's wait and see."

In a few seconds, the PREHEAT light turned on, and Kagura looked at Yuki. He was writing furiously in his little notebook. Kagura!

Finally he looked up and said "Got it!" Kagura again!

"Okay, Step 1: Done. What's the next step Yuki-kun?"

"It says to 'In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and eggs using a mixer on high speed'." Yuki stated.

"Okay. Before we do that, we have to put the correct amounts of the butter, sugar, and eggs in the large bowl. The recipe says we need 1 ¾ cups of sugar. Can you bring the sugar here, Yuki-kun? Thank you. See this measuring cup Yuki-kun? This cup can hold one cup of any ingredient."

"But we need 1 ¾ cups of sugar." Yuki interrupted.

"Yes, I was getting to that. First let's add one cup of sugar to the bowl okay? Here, watch how I do it, okay?"

Kagura took the measuring cup and dipped it in the sugar. When she took it out, she took a ruler and measured off the excess sugar.

"See how I got rid of the extra sugar? This ruler levels off the sugar and makes sure we have exactly one cup." Then Kagura dumped the sugar into the bowl and grabbed a different measuring cup.

"This cup can hold ¾ of any ingredient. If we got one cup of sugar using that cup and ¾ cup of sugar using this one, how much do we have total?" Kagura asked Yuki.

"Err…1 and ¾!" Yuki shouted.

"Yes! Exactly. Good job, Yuki-kun. Now I want you to get the ¾ cup of sugar. Here's the cup and here's the ruler to level it off."

Yuki took the cup and hesitantly dipped it in the sugar sack. Slowly he brought it out. "Like this?" he asked Kagura.

She nodded, encouraging him. "Now what do you do?"

"Um…err…do I take the ruler and level off the sugar?" he half-asked, half-said.

"Yes but why?"

"…To make sure no…extra sugar gets added?" he half-asked again.

"Yep! YAY for Yuki-kun! You're learning! Now that you've told me what you're going to do, do it."

Yuki slowly took the ruler and stuck it vertically in the cup and stirred it.

"No! No, Yuki-kun, WRONG!" Kagura yelled. "I knew I spoke too soon," she muttered to herself as she grabbed the ruler from Yuki before the sugar got everywhere.

"Not like that. Like this." And she showed him again how to slide the ruler across the top of the cup. Then she dumped the sugar back in the sack and thrust the cup and ruler at Yuki. "Try it again."

He got it right this time.

"Do we do the same thing for the butter?" Yuki asked.

"No, not exactly. Could you get one stick of butter for me, Yuki-kun?"

"Err…how big of a stick do you need Kagura-chan?"

"Huh? What are you—oh!" Kagura walked over to their bags of groceries and got a stick of butter. "See this, Yuki-kun? This is a stick of butter."

"Ohhhh."

"Yes, ohhh. Before we add this to the sugar though, we need to slightly soften it. It's been kept in a freezer so it's hard as rock. It's really hard to mix rock-like butter with sugar and eggs. So to soften it, you put it in the microwave. You don't want it in for too long or it'll be too soft and become liquid. You want it _just _soft enough. See how it's already slightly soft?" Kagura let Yuki feel the butter. (A/N: that sounds dirty for some reason…)

Yuki nodded.

"Good, that means we only put it in the microwave for a short amount of time. Never put the butter in for more than a minute. Always less. We're going to put it in for 30 seconds."

As Kagura put the butter in the microwave, she suddenly had to ask, "Yuki-kun, you _do _know how to use a microwave, right?"

Yuki glared at Kagura. "Of course, I do. I had to if I wanted to survive and not starve before Honda-san came along."

Kagura laughed. "Good."

The microwave beeped. "All right, let's see the stick of butter," Kagura took out the butter. "Oh good, it's perfectly soft. See Yuki-kun? It's not so soft that's it's running, but it's just soft enough that it won't be a bother to mix with the sugar and eggs."

They walked back to the mixing bowl. "All right, before you add the butter, make sure you unwrap it. You don't want paper in the cake, now do you? Here you do it. I'll watch and guide you."

Yuki, slowly, but perfectly unwrapped the butter under Kagura's watchful eye.

"YAY! Perfect job Yuki-kun! Now just add it to the sugar IN THE BOWL Yuki! IN THE BOWL! NOT THE SUGAR SACK!" (A/N: Hahaha…I thought this was really funny…it took me a few minutes to recover from the laugh attack. Hahaheehehaha)

Kagura sighed. "Okay, now for the eggs. The recipe says two eggs, right? Okay. Here they are. To break an egg Yuki, you lightly tap the middle of the egg against the counter like this," Kagura showed him. "LIGHTLY, mind you. Now, see you the egg shell is now in two halves? You hold the egg about the bowl, and slowly pull the two halves apart. See? Now you do the other one. But do it over this other bowl just in case."

Kagura set a small bowl before Yuki. It was a good thing she did because Yuki accidentally forgot to _lightly_ tap the first egg and it exploded in his hands. Yuki managed to get the slight crack in the second one but most of the egg shell ended up in the bowl along with the egg. His third one he tapped too lightly and got frustrated and ended up whacking it against the counter. His fourth one, however, was perfect.

"Niiice Yuki. Now you're ready to _really_ do it. Here you go. Do your stuff Yuki-kun!" Kagura said.

Yuki managed to break the egg into the large mixing bowl. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough. There were no loose egg shell pieces nor was there any frustration.

"I plugged in the mixer. Yuki, see the three speeds on here? The recipe says to do mix these three ingredients on high speed. But you're never supposed to start on high speed. We'll start mixing with low speed and then in a few moments, we'll increase the speed to high. We start with low speed because if we started with high, some of these ingredients might start flying around the room and then we'd have an even bigger mess to clean up later than just these eggs. So watch me, k? First you put the beaters among the ingredients. Then to turn the mixer on, you push the Power switch to LOW. Like this. See how I slowly move the mixer in a circle. That's so everything gets mixed together. Now you try it. Keep it on LOW though till I tell you, okay?"

Kagura handed the mixer to Yuki. "Thanks Kagura-chan." He slowly moved the mixer in a circle, getting all the ingredients.

"Yuki move the Power switch to HIGH now." Yuki did as Kagura said.

"Oh! I'm doing it without any mishaps so far, Kagura-chan. Look! Ah, this is so much more fun than I thought it would be. Haha."

"I'm glad you like it Yuki-kun. Okay, keep on mixing until the mixture is smooth and creamy. I'll tell you when that is, okay?"

Yuki kept mixing for a minute more and then Kagura told him to stop. As soon as she did, Yuki whipped out his notebook and started writing everything down. Kagura!

"What's the next step, Yuki?" Kagura asked him when he was done.

"It says to 'Beat in the vanilla'. How…why…I've never…" Yuki looked at Kagura with a confused expression.

Kagura giggled and answered, "I'll show you don't worry. First, how much vanilla does the recipe call for?"

"It says '1 t. vanilla extract."

"Is it a capital T or a small letter t?"

"Small. Why does that matter?" Yuki questioned.

"Well, a small letter 't' means teaspoon. A capital 'T' means Tablespoon. Tablespoons are bigger than teaspoons. You wouldn't want to add a Tablespoon of something when it was only supposed to be a teaspoon, now would you?"

Yuki shook his head. (A/N: Awww! I could totally picture him in this little bit here. Awww….!)

"This is what a teaspoon looks like and this is what a Tablespoon looks like Yuki-kun. See the difference?" Kagura asked showing him.

Yuki nodded and Kagura continued.

"All you have to do here is pour the vanilla extract into this teaspoon and then pour the teaspoon into the mixture. Then you just beat the mixture again, k? Go ahead, you do it. But over the sink so it doesn't spill and make a mess."

"All right," Yuki poured the small vanilla extract bottle into the teaspoon. He poured too much but luckily it was over the sink. Then he walked the teaspoon over to the mixture carefully and poured it in.

"Okay, now beat the mixture using the mixer."

Yuki put the beaters in the bowl and pushed the Power switch from OFF to LOW. Then he slowly started moving the mixer in a circle. A few seconds later, he switched from LOW to HIGH.

"Good job, Yuki-kun! You've done everything fantastically, brilliantly, amazingly! I'm so proud of you!" Kagura exclaimed. (A/N: -wipes tear from eye- "I'm proud too!")

A minute later, Kagura told Yuki to stop. Everything was blended together.

"Step 4 says 'In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder'. I'll get the other bowl!" Yuki yelled excitedly, "I know where it is!"

He flipped through his notebook and then finding the right page, walked over to the cabinet to the left of the oven and took out a medium sized bowl. "Will this be big enough, Kagura-chan?"

But he didn't get an answer because Kagura had pulled him into a big hug.

"You're doing everything _so_ well, Yuki-kun! Soon, you won't even need my help!"

"Err, Kagura-chan," Yuki gasped, "could you let go please? I … can't breathe."

"Hehe, sorry, Yuki-kun. How much flour does the recipe call four, do you know?"

"Yes, it says here, we need 2 ½ cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt (another bone-crushing hug here), and 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder. Is it all right if I do it all?"

"Of course it is! Go on, show me your stuffing Yuki-kun!" (A/N: Get it? Cuz they're in a kitchen so stuffing like inside a turkey or chicken instead of stuff! Hahaha)

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Oh, ok," Yuki correctly measured everything and added it to the bowl. When he was done he got another hug. (A/N: Maybe he shouldn't do things so well…then Kagura would stop hugging him and he could breathe….LOL)

"We won't be using the mixer for these ingredients because they are all dry ingredients. Instead we'll just use a wooden spoon to mix them all together. You can find the wooden spoons in the same drawer holding the measuring cups and spoons."

Kagura then showed Yuki how to mix the dry ingredients together.

"Done. Next Step, Yuki!"

"'Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until combined.' Does that mean we take one-third of this mixture we just created, add it to the butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla mix, and then beat it all together?"

"EXACTLY! Ah, I'm so proud, Yuki-kun! But one thing, it doesn't _exactly _have to be one-third of the flour mix, only as close as possible, k?"

"Uh-huh," Yuki tipped some of the flour mix into the creamy mix and then beat the two together on LOW speed. When the ingredients were combined, he read the next part of the recipe.

"It says to 'Add 1/3 cup of milk to the creamed mixture and beat until combined'. Okay, that means I pour 1/3 cup of milk in the mix and then I beat it all together, right?"

"Yep! You're learning fast, Yuki-kun."

"All thanks to you Kagura-chan. Thank you so much for helping me with this and teaching me how to do it. I owe you a big one."

"Enh, no worries. I'm sure you'll manage to pay me back somehow or another," she teased.

"I'll try my best," Yuki replied laughingly. By this time he'd correctly measured the milk, added it to the creamy mix, and started beating it together.

"Step 7 says to keep repeating Steps 5 and 6 until all the flour mix is gone and we use 1 cup of milk total. So that means I add the second third of the flour mix, blend it together, add the second third of the milk, mix, then add the final third of the flour, mix again, and then finally add the last third of the milk and mix again."

"Yes. That's what it means PERFECTLY. Gosh, Yuki, if you keep going at this rate, pretty soon we'll be seeing you on the Food Network." The cousins laughed knowing the odds of that happening were impossible.

Kagura watched while Yuki finished mixing the rest of the ingredients together.

"Okay. Now that we're done with the batter, let me take out the pan. Yuki, Tohru keeps her pans in the cabinet to the right of the oven, the same place as the electric mixer and the other mechanical appliances. For this cake, we need a 10x10 pan. The size of a pan is written on the side. Do you see it?" she continued when he nodded.

"This pan is a size 11x7. This isn't the right one, is it?" Yuki shook his head. "That's right," she pulled out another pan, "_This_ is the one we want."

"Step 10 says to 'Grease and flour a 10x10 pan and smooth the top to level'. Why would we add grease to the pan? Or cover it in flour?"

"You grease and flour a pan so that when you take the cake out of the pan, the cake doesn't stick to the pan and accidentally break. To grease a pan, you just take a can of cooking spray, and spray the pan. Then to flour it, just sprinkle some flour on it. Simple as that. I'm going to spray it Yuki but then I want you to flour it okay?"

Kagura lightly sprayed the pan and then had Yuki grab a small handful of flour to sprinkle. Everything was going perfectly until somehow, some of the flour ended up in Kagura's hair and face. Laughing, she threw some back at Yuki and thus started The Great Kitchen Fight or, better known, as Flours For Everybody! (A/N: Hahaha, Flours…instead of Flowers…see? I know…I amaze myself too sometimes. 8P)

The Great Kitchen Fight, or better known as, Flours For Everybody, lasted for fifteen minutes and only then because they ran out of flour to throw around.

Dusting themselves off, Yuki and Kagura stood up. "Let's get this cake in the oven," Kagura said.

Together they poured the batter into the pan and then slid the pan into the already heated oven. They set the timer for 45 minutes and Yuki made sure to make a few more notes in his notebook.

"All done!" Kagura looked at the clock. "Oh no! We don't have enough time to bake another cake. We only have an hour left and that's how long it's going to take us to clean up and for this cake to finish baking. Arrgh. Okay. Fine. Tohru-chan works tomorrow as well right? Well, I'll come over and we'll bake another cake, all right?"

"Uh-huh. Thank you again Kagura-chan."

"No worries, Yuki, I already told you. It's fun teaching you. Hey, let's get to work cleaning up okay. Why don't you take all the dirty dishes to the sink and start washing them? I'll sweep up all this flour."


	12. Day 6: Part 3: Conversations & Carnivals

While Kagura and Yuki were working, Yuki couldn't help but think of Kagura's mood earlier. She was obviously feeling better but he couldn't help wondering what had happened to her. But before he could ask, Kagura spoke.

"Yuki?" she said quietly, her head down. Yuki turned toward her. "Thanks for…not asking me anything earlier. I really appreciate it. I wasn't feeling well then but now I'm better. And…I think…I want to tell you what happened… If you want to listen that is."

"Of course I do, nee-chan. I was worried but I'm glad you're feeling better."

"All thanks to you Yuki-kun," Kagura smiled but then looked down again, "This morning I was waiting for Kyou at Shishou's. I thought maybe we could train together for a little while. But he was late. And I got so worried. I was frantic Yuki-kun!" Kagura looked at him pleadingly, as if asking him to believe her, even though he already did.

"He'd never been late before. I was going to start looking for him and sending out search parties and everything but then … he showed up. And when..." Kagura started crying, "…when he got there, I hugged him, cause I was so worried and I cried…but … but…he just pushed me away. Said he had to go talk to Shishou. Apologize for being late. He … I was _so _worried Yuki-kun. And he just pushed me away. He didn't even tell me why he was late…he just pushed me away. And … I don't know if I can like Kyou anymore Yuki. I know he doesn't feel the same way for me, I know that, I really do. But I thought…I thought he was at least my _friend. _But he's not even that. He doesn't care about me…at all. And I was just kidding myself to think he did, even a little," Kagura paused and then looked up at Yuki unblinkingly, "I want to hate him, Yuki. HATE HIM. But I can't. I can't….I just can't. And it hurts…it hurts so much, I just want to die…" she stopped.

Yuki pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

"Oh nee-chan. I'm so sorry, so sorry. I wish I could do something, I really do. As much as I hated that cat, I hate him even more now. I really do. God, I wish he didn't treat you so bad."

"But you know what, Kagura-chan? You have to show him you're okay. Even if you're not. You have to put up a brave front. In fact…I have an idea. Stay for dinner."

Kagura gasped. "I can't do that Yuki, I just can't. I can't face him."

"See? That's what I mean. You have to face him. Act like it doesn't matter what he did this morning. Act like you don't care. Don't look at him and only talk to him when you have to. And when he sees how strong you are, how you don't need him, maybe, maybe the cat will start treating you better. Maybe he'll realize what a great person you are. Or maybe…you'll learn to not like him anymore."

"You really think I can do it, Yuki?"

"I _know _you can, nee-chan."

She sniffled, "Thanks, Yuki. You're the best."

Yuki gave her one last hug, glad he could comfort _someone _and then the two returned to their work.

The cake still wasn't done when the two were finished cleaning up. They were playing a game of cards when they heard the door slide open.

Looking up from their hands, they saw Shigure walk in, carrying a bundle of papers under his arm.

Strangely, Shigure only said a slight hello before he disappeared into his study.

Kagura and Yuki looked at each other in wonderment when they heard the timer go off. They rushed into the kitchen.

Kagura put on oven mittens and opened the oven door. "Toothpick," Yuki handed her a toothpick.

She stuck it into the cake and pulled it out. It was clean.

"YAY! It's done! Now it just has to cool."

She took out a cooling rack and then pulling the cake out of the oven, put it on top of the rack.

Glancing at the clock, she reminded Yuki he had to go pick up Tohru-chan from work.

Yuki hurried out the door just as Shigure walked out of his study. Sniffing something yummy in the air, he hastened to the kitchen.

"Ooh, something smells really good, Kagura-chan. Did you make that cake? It smells delicious. Looks delicious too. Can I have a piece? Please? Don't say no to a starving artist; that would be _cruel._"

Kagura laughed, "Don't worry Shigure-san. You can have a piece of cake…"

Shigure's feet left the ground as he floated in a cloud of happiness.

"…at dinner." The dog came crashing down.

"Aww…but why not now? Please? Or I'll tell Hatori that I'm malnourished and it's all Kagura-chan's fault."

"Well, it's not just my decision to make. Yuki-kun also helped make this cake."

Shigure stared. "On second thought, I don't think I want a piece after all," he said, shuddering.

"But Shigure-san, Yuki will be so hurt if you don't even try a piece of his cake."

"Better him than me," Shigure replied.

They were interrupted just then when the door was violently slid open and Kyou barged in. He balked though at seeing Kagura, and looking around as if for a place to hide.

Kagura, however, just asked Shigure if he wanted to help her make frosting and decorate the cake. At his affirmative, Kagura started getting the things she needed out of the cabinets and the refrigerator and Kyou slowly left the room, scratching his head and glancing back at the girl every few seconds.

Shigure's only thought was, _hmm, trouble in paradise…wonder what happened?_

In the meantime...

Yuki had arrived just in time to pick up Tohru. He'd been a little out of breath but punctual. They were walking home when they saw flashing lights and a Ferris wheel and other rides being set up at the park. Tohru and Yuki stopped at the entrance to the park and Yuki asked a nearby stranger what was happening.

"It's a carnival. They'll be open tomorrow. They're only here for a week since they have to be in another city by next Sunday night." The stranger handed them a flyer and left.

"Yuki-kun! A carnival! Wow!"

"Do you want to go Honda-san? We can go on Friday since you'll be free that day and it will be the start of the weekend."

"Can we? I'd love to. It'll be so much fun!"

"Of course we can go Honda-san. But first you have to promise me something. No, two somethings. Will you do it?"

"Of course. Whatever you want, Yuki-kun, I'll do it. If your tie needs tying, I'll do it."

"No, no, Honda-san," Yuki interrupted, "I don't need anything like that. I just want you to let me pay for your ticket and all the rides and food and games you want (and I am not taking no for an answer because you already promised). And the second thing is…you have to tell me all about carnivals since I've never been to one."

"Really? Well, the last time I went was with my dad when I was little. I really don't remember much; I was too little. But it was beautiful: all the lights, and the people. I remember the cotton candy the best; I ate so much of it, I got sick and threw up. But it was so much fun. Trust me, Yuki-kun! You'll love the carnival."

"I'm sure I will, Honda-san."

After that, the two walked home, Tohru taking her promise to Yuki very seriously and informing him all about carnivals including their horrible bathrooms ("That's why you should go ahead of time, so you won't have to use theirs").

At home, Kagura helped Tohru prepare dinner while Yuki did some light reading.

When dinner was ready, everyone sat around the table. Tohru served everyone and the meal began.

It was really uncomfortable at first because Kyou kept staring at Kagura wondering what was wrong with her but Kagura never looked up from her plate.

"Uh…Yuki-kun! How was your day? What did you do?" Tohru asked Yuki, desperate for conversation.

"Er…um, I worked on my … paper. For this thing at school. Since I am Council President. Yes. I had to write about … ties! And that maybe they should be black instead of white because white ties get so dirty so easily. Yes, that's exactly it." Yuki nodded his head, satisfied.

Tohru sat enraptured. "Really? You're right! White ties do get dirtier faster. It's so hard to get stains out of them too. You have to do a lot of scrubbing…"

And so started a conversation on ties and bleach and laundry in general.

While Kagura not jumping on Kyou was strange, so was Shigure's silence. He seemed to be absorbed with whatever thoughts were in his head, so much so, that when Kagura brought out the cake, and said that _she _had made it, he didn't even notice.

"Oh, wow! Kagura-chan, it's a beautiful cake. And you made the frosting too, didn't you? You didn't have to work so hard, Kagura-chan."

"No worries. Shigure-san helped me with the frosting although he ate so much of it we barely had enough to cover the cake," she sent a playful glare at the dog who just pouted in reply.

"I was _hungry,_" he whined.

Kagura served the cake to everyone except Shigure who declined, still fearing for his life.

However, when he saw everyone around him alive, healthy, and exclaiming over the cake, he took a piece for himself as well.

"This is really good cake Kagura-chan. Not only did it look good, it tastes good too! You have to give me the recipe!" Tohru said.

"You already have it. I used one of your cookbooks, I hope you don't mind," Kagura replied.

"No, of course not."

After dinner, Kagura left with a promise to come back the next day to teach Yuki how to make frosting.

* * *

**That's it.**

**Hope you all enjoyed that. Any tpyos or spilleng mestekas or wordsJumbledTogether i totally blame on ff . net**

**Shout-outs: Only to those who reviewed Ch. 9. I know some of you reviewed for the other chapters while I was gone so THANKS! it was really nice getting some reviews even while I was gone.**

**Dark Inu Fan:** i hope this was believable. it is nice to find something Yuki can't do and i hope i didn't make it too easy for him. but i find following recipes really easy so it was hard to think of things he could mess up on. And Yuki _is _a fast learner and I couldn't ignore that even if he is hopeless in the kitchen. Next chapter's frosting escapades will be a lot of fun though, promise!

**eni-chan:** see? i updated! i told you I'd do it before December was out! And this whole (all three parts) was 18 pages long. took me forever. but i did it! email me soon, k?

**inu-yuki lover100:** don't worry. i won't stop until this story is done. finito. hope you liked this chapter!

**hatori obsessor:** i promise i will not stopuntil this story is done. just make sure you don't stop reading if i take too long. ;p

**o.oxanimefreakxo.o: **yeah,Yuki does suck. 8p hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Tohruismyoneechan:** hope i got your name right. Here it is. The next chapter. 18 pages worth. Hope you enjoyed it!

**Meli09/nightgoddess:** whichever name, thank you so much for loving my story so much. i hope you liked this chapter just as much.

**Clairence:** well thank you for taking the time to review. and you're not bad at reviews. it was really, really nice. thanks. hope you enjoy this chapter...not much Yukiru in here.

**Aria's star:** Update. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for your words of compliment; they mean a lot.

**SomeRandomperson: **Thanks for reading. Hope you liked this chapter!

**flute4ever330:** thanks for laughing out loud. and yes, the peeled tomato was a sign of brilliance if i do say somyself. /blush/ ;p hope you liked this chapter!

**Freaky Person O.o: **i love your name. yes, i did update after the entire day was done. took me forever. hope you liked this chapter!

**Kea Jaganshi:** Thanks for making me happy. Hope i made you happy with this chapter!

**-RiceBallPlum**


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